to be annoyed by the doctor about my iron levels!

[Gennz]

Ths is a very boring AIBU. I just want to have a rant.

I hav a 5 month old DS. Lately he has been sleeping a lot better but still not sleeping through - he goes to bed at 7, I dreamfeed him at 10 and he wakes between 3 - 5 for a feed and gets up at 6.30 - 7am. So only waking once. I'm still BFing.

However I have been feeling more exhausted than I did when he was newborn and waking round the clock! I feel dizzy and faint, can barely walk to the end of the road, my arms feel weak, I generally feel like I've been run over by a truck.

I had very low ferritin levels - 10 (e.g. iron deficient) in pregnancy and took iron supplements. The normal reference range is 12 - 150. I feel now like I did then - i.e. it's not just the normal shatteredness that comes with sleep deprivation or broken sleep. I'm sure that's the culprit now, so I started taking the iron supplements I had left over from pregnancy & upping my red meat intake. I went back to the doctor for blood tests and my ferritin came back at 26. (Thyroid function etc all came back fine so that's not it).

I called the doc & said I knew the ferritin was within the normal range but it was still quite low & I was taking my leftover iron already but that they were going to run out soon & given my symptoms I'd like an iron prescription to get it up further (from what I can tell from doing a bit of reading online - yes yes I know, don't trust Dr Google ... but still...) while 10 - 150 is "normal" optimal ferritin levels for females are 70 -90.

She said no, it was well within normal, they wouldn't prescribe and if I wanted iron supplements I would have to buy them over the counter myself. And that I was probably just "tired from the baby" (at which point I really wanted to hit her - I mean no shit that hadn't occurred to me! The baby might be affecting my sleep, oh really?! )

AIBU to think this is a bit blinkered? I don't really mind about buying the iron supplements myself, but if someone presents with symptoms is it not bit bloody lazy & narrow minded to say "no that's not it, no I won't help you" and stick to a massively broad reference range for a possible issue? I already feel much better afer a week of taking my leftover iron supplements and upping my red meat intake.

Sorry if I'm missing something here but did you get your haemoglobin checked also? Could it be that your haemoglobin (ability of red blood cells to carry iron) is low but ferritin (iron stores) is ok - that does happen. Also are you taking vitamin c to help abortion and avoiding tannin and cereals (which inhibit absorption) for up to 3 hours after?

Just RTFT and I wanted to add they would have supplemented on hb and ferritin together, doctors always look at all results before deciding not just ferritin or hb only. As for the vitamin d it not just a case of how much you're getting it's how much you're absorbing. Are you hydrated enough? Are you more active now than 3 months ago. As a pp said it would take more than 1 week to feel better after iron, as an anaemic hypothyroidic person I have been there (and counted down the 6 weeks until I've felt better). Sorry but your gp probably has an idea more than you

It is normal practice to do a full blood count while testing for ferritin. If checking for anaemia, most docs will also do a B12 test at the same time.

TATT (Tired all the time) as a symptom usually results in a request for B12, folate, Full blood count (which includes haemoglobin levels) and ferritin. Looking at the full blood picture (size and shape of the red blood cells) is as important as the figures in diagnosing iron deficiency anaemia, or pernicious anaemia.

HiAnydrink yep got all bloods tested but not Vitamin D which I will get done as I think I've been deficient in it before.

I probably didn't phrase the AIBU very well ... I can see that it IS reasonable for the doc to assume everything is normal if everything comes back in the normal range!

But I know I'm not feeling normal ... within 6 weeks of DS being born I was walking 5km several times a week and swimming 1km 3 - 4 times a week - even on days where I'd been up 3+ times in the night. When I went to the doc I couldn't have walked round the block, I felt faint and dizzy, it was hard for me to lift him, I just felt weak, exhausted, listless - it wasn't normal baby exhaustion (and by this time DS was only waking once in the night so my sleep was actually not too bad).

So I do think my GP is unreasonable to tell me I'm "fine" and "it's just baby related tiredness". I know it's not. I think it's unreasonable (and actually quite bloody patronising) for a doctor to dismiss someone's symptoms/concerns like that. If someone came in with those symptoms without a baby they'd try to find a reason but because I have a baby it's okay? (which is pretty stupid when you think about it, imagine if I dropped him or passed out when I was at home alone with him).

I looked at tests results and B12, haemoglobin, TSH and T3 (or T4 can't remember which) are all normal, and bang in the middle of normal so I think it's unlikely I could pin it on them.

At 26, Ferrtitin is low (this 26 result was also after I'd started supplementing a week earlier, I don't knw if that would have boosted the results much?) which as far as I can tell can be indicative of iron deficiency (at levels under 30) and from other reading I've done higher ferritin levels (70 - 90) are optimal for thyroid function - as I have antibodies maybe this will help. I'm well off toxic levels of ferritin so her instructions not to supplement seemed to me to be a bit silly. I think she had the shits because I'd questioned her.

It took about 10 days of supplementing for me to feel better when I was low iron in prenancy & it's taken about the same amount of time tis time so who knows, perhaps that boost makes me feel a bit better quickly? (I'm still tired, weak arms etc, it's not been a miraculous turn around but it's not as bad at all).

I guess my real gripe is the gripe I've had all the way through pregnancy/having a newborn baby - everything you feel sick, tired etc the medical response seems to be "that's just how it is being pregnant/having a baby etc" - no one ever seems to be bothered to think of ways (however small) to alleviate your misery! (Or maybe thats just my experience).

Sorry for the novel!

Op i understand how you feel. I'v had extreme exhaustion for over year. Had blood tests all fine bar this year when it was a little low purely due to a blood clot.
I know myself i'm not fine when i can't keep my eyes open and i can sleep for hours on end!

In case anyone is interested in the outcome of this Very Boring AIBU, I figured out what the problem was. It's the minipill (progesterone only) pill I started taking 8 weeks ago.

I couldn't figure out why I was SO shattered during the day but found it hard to sleep at night. I was also really emotional (which I put down to BFing - I kept crying at the dumbest shit, that song by The Script "Paint The Town Green" would set me off every time because it's soooo sad to be away from hooome ). My weight loss had also stalled.

Stopped taking it on Monday - feel SO much better already. Sleeping well (as well as you can with a 5 month old), more energy - just took the dog for a walk, less emotional - I just feel back to my normal self. Oh and I've lost a kg in the last 4 days!

I thought I'd update in case anyone is in a similar situation! It took me ages to figure it out.

So I was being unreasonable about my iron levels after all...

Glad you sorted it out. OC pills can be very disruptive! First one I took made me feel actually pg, with morning sickness and everything (Logynon). I went to microgynon after that and was better; but then years later discovered that I had a thrombophilia condition so could only take the mini pill - as I remember it, it just made me grumpy.