The gp isn't taking me seriously?

[SteaknGuiness]

Low ferritin (6) and low blood iron (10). Absolutely totally utterly exhausted, brain foggy, falling asleep at weird times.

Iron pills give me crushing headache. one gp said it couldn't be the iron even though its a side effect and the second told me to eat red meat and Guinness (1 pint of Guinness contains 3% of your recommended iron intake)

I have SEN children and am currently so lethargic and my brain literally doesn't work and I need it to!! . I've had a five minute lecture about sleep hygiene which isn't really something I can incorporate with an asd child who has severe sleeping difficulties.

What can I ask for here? Has anyone any idea what I can do apart from chow down steak? (yes I do eat a good diet in general - no, they aren't sure why levels are so low)

Have you tried Spatone?

I've tried two types of prescription iron plus vitabiotics over the counter gentle iron and also their feroglobin liquid plus.

Terrible, take two types of painkiller headache after about 36 hours on anything

Try increasing your B12 consumption as the two go hand in hand , things like green leafy veg etc doesn't have to be steak or guiness - is your GP an elderly man by any chance ?

I had to see a second GP to get the help I needed. My mum offered to pay for iron transfusions if they weren't going to listen to me.

Floradix I can highly recommend

Spatone in orange juice at double the dose worked for dd.
Chances are your vitamin d is low too, so take a good supplement.
Ditto B vitamins.
Drink loads of water too.

Are you getting help with the child with sleeping difficulties?
Melatonin?

I take Active Iron and B complex. It doesn't upset my stomach and apparently is easily absorbed. It does take a while to build up in your system though.

Syton liquid iron saved my life. Well, my sanity at least. It's prescribed and you take 5ml as one dose. I mixed it into a bit of orange juice and felt better within a week. I also needed vit D supplements because I was super low on that too.

Do you take any other medications that could be interfering with absorbing iron? Did you have full blood tests to check nothing else is low?

I was given a different type of iron while I was pregnant as I wasn't absorbing it even with vitamin C and folic acid, ferrous sulphate, for some reason that worked. You can get it at the chemist so you don't need the GP. I found that it worked best in the evening an hour before dinner alongside a pint of dissolved vitamin C tablets (it was affecting levothyroxine absorption taken in the morning).

I'm sorry your GP isn't helping you and i hope you get well soon. Mine isn't being helpful right now either (for pains, so entirely different issues), it's horrible to be unwell and feel like you can't get help.

Research B12 injections.
Iron and B12 need each other. One does not work without the other. some people cannot absorb the iron if their B12 level is too low. Sometimes the B12 makes all the difference.

Take a B vitamin supplement for a month and up your intake of dark green veg. See if that helps. It helped me.

Thyroid. And Antithyroid antibodies. Your TSH needs to be ideally below 2.5. yet most GPs ignore Nice guidelines.

Vitamin D
Vitamin B12

If all of these and low iron then you will feel like absolute death.

Switch GPs.

Can you buy desiccated ferritin in the UK? That’s what I take, and I’ve found it to be much more effective than iron pills.

I struggled on with all sorts of symptoms due to iron deficiency anaemia. I tried every iron supplement but I couldn’t tolerate them. I ended up asking politely for an iron infusion and it worked like a charm. Go and ask for one.

You probably know this already but just in case it helps -

Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron
Dairy and caffeine inhibit iron absorbtion

So I have my supplement with a glass of orange juice after evening meal because if I have it with breakfast I’m almost certainly having dairy and caffeine so it won’t be effective .

Could you ask to be referred to a specialist? Do you have any other symptoms? (Pain, bowel or bladder trouble?)

My friend has been diagnosed with coeliac disease after having a history of low iron levels.

Sleeping more isn’t going to help your iron levels. I don’t know what you mean about low blood iron (is this hemoglobin level?) but ask your doctor (not the one who told you to get more sleep) about whether you would benefit from an iron infusion or injection.

My daughter had an iron infusion a few years ago and although it did make her feel sick, queasy and generally ill for about 5 days after, it was definitely worth it in the longer term.

Get your b12 checked too as they often go hand in hand.

And don’t go back to the idiot who suggested you sleep better, for anything ever.

Another vote for coeliacs disease. How are your vitamin d levels?

Iron pills always gave me a headache even though it's not an official side effect. Though please try continuing as only prescribed iron tablets have high enough levels to correct severe anemia. Things like Spatone and Floradix are ok for mild anemia but you'll feel much better faster if you take the tablets.

Try taking the tablets every second day, which can make the side effects more tolerable. If all fails, an iron infusion will help immediately. You may need to get that done privately though.

Before monkeying about with B12 and Iron, maybe the OP needs to get their intrinsic factor checked ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrinsic_factor

Another vote for coeliac disease. My ferritin was through the floor, iron wasn't helping, GP just fobbed me off. I was told I was depressed or not eating properly (neither were true). I got more and more exhausted and weak. I was finally admitted to hospital very ill indeed (I couldn't walk unaided from bed to bathroom by that time) and they found I had coeliac disease. It's apparently a classic cause of low ferritin.

Thank you very much all of you. I felt so down at being dismissed partly cos I have so little get up and go to stand up for myself

@MRex - I have been on reflux medication and proton pump inhibitors at increasing doses for ten years for really bad reflux. I asked the doctor last week if that could interfere with iron absorption, knowing in some cases it can (by raising the pH levels and interfering with the fe2/fe3 sequestration of iron from food) and he dismissed the idea then told me that I was just likely to be anaemic because I was a woman and "y know, women bleed so..." with a shrug

I've asked for thyroid blood tests and can have them in a week or two. Not sure why the wait.

The feroglobin liquid I've started today is rumbling through my tummy very ominously but does have b vitamins / vitamin c / everything that sounds good from honey to green tea extract as well thrown in

I'm just doubting myself at feeling like this when the GPs are dismissing me (Guinness )

I also came on to say coeliac disease.. or at least non-celiac gluten sensitivity (which I don't think has been properly researched yet but is something my husband's GP mentioned to him when the coeliac test came back negative. He had the same symptoms as you, gave up gluten and feels much better for it).

As magpie said, Vitamin C.

Whenever I was looked tired as a child, my parents made me eat black pudding (lots of iron) and drink orange juice with it. Maybe try that for breakfast for a week and see how you go?

Another vote for the liquid preparation of iron- it is Called sytron and your Gp can prescribe it instead of iron tablets. Spatone etc just won’t cut it if your levels are very low.