To say this will never end

[AnemicWoman]

Unless I demand a change?

Hi all, this is probably a boring thread about Anemia. Just a heads up before I make you read my rant.

So, I've been anemic for about ten years and I am Fed. Up. I feel like I'm a naive woman being ignored medically. I could also just be very over dramatic, and I know AIBU is the place to tell me straight.

It started in my early teens. All the classic symptoms, doctors visit, blood test.
"You're anemic, do you have heavy periods?"
"No."
Do you eat healthy?"
"Yes"
"Okay make sure you eat lots of iron rich foods, here some iron tablets."

Fine. Fair enough. I took the iron tablets, 6 months later, they'd made no difference. Same blood test, same two questions. More iron tablets. Sometimes different ones, sulfate/fumarate. Same cycle for years.

Around 19, a doctor suggested they check for other things as this wasn't going away. From what I can remember they looked at sickle cell and thyroid. Maybe diabetes? But everything came back normal. More iron tablets and a brief mention of a transfusion if they didn't work.

At 20 I fell pregnant and was surprised to discover I was high risk, I had lots of extra scans and monitoring due to my "hemoglobin issues" I can honestly say this was the first time I'd ever thought anemia was something more serious than just Take iron tablets and get on with it. During pregnancy I ended up in hospital with threatened premature labour (unrelated). At one point my resting heart rate was 135 bpm. The nurses contacted the heart doctors, but before they came she reread my charts and said "oh you're anemic? Here's an iron tablet, it will calm your heart." And it did.

About nine months after DD was born I got very low, I thought I had Post natal depression and went crying to doctors. After some blood tests I was given iron and folic acid and sent on my way. Surprise surprise no difference.

I'm now early 20's. I eat healthy, my periods are normal, I exercise. But my lips have a blue tinge, my nails are purple, my resting heart rate averages at 92, I used my dad's peak flow test and apparently I have the lungs of an 80 year old. I know I need to go back to the doctors but really What the hell is the point?!? It just goes on and on.

So..
YABU: some women have Anemia, calm down and take your iron.
YANBU: this is not normal. You need investigations and an iron blood transfusion (or something)

Anaemia is usually a symptom of something else so defo mention it to your doctor and perhaps see someone else?

My dad became anaemic in March 2019 - in July 2019 he was diagnosed with very severe aplastic anaemia.

I had no idea how serious anaemia could be until my dad got his illness.

As others have said, if you’re not absorbing iron, there isn’t much point taking it.

Definitely ask your doctor about the suggestions in this thread, and also your B12

Are you nauseous and sick after breakfast or before?

Thank you for more replies!
To answer some questions, I'm white, being sick happens either side of breakfast but definitely ties in with something stressful or new to deal with at work. So seems anxiety related. I think they may of tested for celiac not diabetes, not sure how I've confused them two but it's worth double checking.

Sorry to anyone who's also going through this, it's very frustrating isn't it.

I had this and it ended up being pernicious anemia - GP did tests for thyroid and coeliac which came back negative so basically I cannot absorb vit b12 and need to have injections. Basically the NHS is super stingy with the b12 jabs despite it being relatively cheap so a lot of people inject themselves. Do some Internet research but you can buy b12 to inject from Germany (amazon.de sell it) and some UK companies do b12 injection packs with swabs, needles etc.
If you do go down this route it will wreck any results from blood tests so it depends if you want to self treat or not
You can also get b12 injections from spa type places but is very expensive compared to buying and doing yourself

I would get some blood tests privately for common nutritional deficiencies - you mention anxiety, so I would begin with vitamin D. If this began in your early teens, perhaps that was correlated with less time outside? It is thought to also impact iron.

@PicsInRed I didn’t know about the vitamin D - anxiety link. I probably need to have that tested as well. Thanks!

Try b12
I have regular b12 injections as I have pernicious anaemia. Ask them to investigate that.

Also, iron tablets can cause problems. Try spatone, it's easier on the system ime.

Hi OP. Have you decided what to do next?