To think that the doctor should investigate why DD is anaemic?

[Natsku]

Rather than just tell her to take iron. As she doesn't have heavy periods, has a decent diet with plenty of meat, doesn't drink tea or milk (so less chance of iron absorption being reduced). She does have coeliac disease but has been on a gluten free diet for 10 years now. Surely they should try to figure out the cause as there doesn't seem to be the usual obvious causes.

Obviously going to get her on iron, and increase iron foods more (pate on toast for breakfast instead of cheese on toast etc.)

I imagine they think it’s coeliac related and that there may be cross contamination or the odd slip up. Is that a possibility, even if accidental?
There are lots of ‘May contain’ items that people inadvertently eat, even a small amount can cause absorption issues for some coeliacs, even a pub chain cooking seemingly GF chips in the same fryer as breadcrumbed products can cause issues or using the same toaster etc.

I mean, you’re not wrong but, ime they will assume what they think is the most likely cause and not push for answers.
BTW iron bisglycinate has better bioavailability than ferrous sulphate or other otc iron. It also gives less gastrointestinal side effects.

I was anaemic for years. Low iron levels, high inflammation in my body. The dr didn’t give a shit.

I saw a specialist in the end. It cost me £2000 but I found out what my chronic long term issues were without having to jump through nhs hoops for years.

Gave you seen her bloods? Was there anything else on there?

Also extremely anemic
My Dr doesn't give a shit
Haven't had a period in months (I fear pre menopausal despite being early 30s)
Diet is good but I'm also coeliac
They just give me a new iron prescription every few months which doesn't touch the sides
I'm exhausted and practically translucent pale

Does she still have dairy in other forms other than milk ? Lactose intolerance is often associated with coeliac and sometimes it’s worth going dairy free to help the gut function better. Even when GF, coeliacs can still need iron supplementation. Are her folate levels in range?

DD1 is the same. Twice has been prescribed iron tablets but then her levels go right back down once she has finished them. Dr said some people just have low levels of iron but didn’t seem bothered about investigating any further. No help but it seems to be a common thing!

I am the same however I have endometriosis and have extremely heavy periods which can at least explain my low iron levels.

I haven't seen the actual blood results, just the note from the doctor saying haemoglobin is 105, MCV was low and ferritin is 5 but I know wthey checked quite a few things as it was a fasting test which isn't required for just the fbc. Unfortunately in my country she's too old for me to see her full health records by logging in from my account but she can't log in herself yet as she doesn't have online strong identification (getting that for her but it takes a week).

She has cheese so I'm going to try to cut that down, but otherwise little dairy. I'm wondering about the possibility of cross contamination at school lunches as they got rid of lunch trays but there was talk of providing them for those with coeliac disease, need to check with dd if that did happen.

BTW iron bisglycinate has better bioavailability than ferrous sulphate or other otc iron. It also gives less gastrointestinal side effects.

Thanks for the tip, I'll see if they have that in the pharmacy.

I’m also anemic. Just a shade over the threshold where they’d prescribe me iron tablets. The GP said “just take some supermarket irons supplements” I replied that I did, and had done for years so should I do something else instead, and she said “no, that will be fine” and ended the phone call.

Have they tested for B12?

food isn’t going to touch the sides with her ferritin that low. Iron tablets every other day to avoid side effects and taken with 1000mg vitamin c to help absorption

I’ve been the same for 20 years and they won’t investigate. I will look into bisglycinate too, thanks

Urgh sorry you didn't get any help.
I feel so surprised because last spring I was very anaemic, under the same health system (she's under school health which I was also at the time) and they were very interested in knowing the cause before treating then gave me iron infusions then focused on treating the cause (heavy periods for me) so it's seems so strange that they aren't curious about the cause with DD

@Natsku once you have excluded other obvious causes, I’d advise looking into the auto immune protocol diet. Lots of autoimmune conditions predispose you to other auto immune conditions so optimising diet and reducing anything that causes inflammation and hence exacerbates malabsorption ( look into your wider family for other auto immune conditions like pernicious anaemia or thyroid problems as gut issues link to both these as well). I was on and off prescribed iron tablets most of my life until I read up more about dietary stuff that you won’t necessarily hear about from the nhs.

I'm hypothyroid, don't think they looked into that. She is shorter than she was predicted to be which could fit with that.

I think they should but they probably won't. My GP's have been spectacularly lazy of late, l have had to prompt and spoon feed them to do anything. E.g. a referral took about 2 months for them to do. They kept on claiming the right blood tests had been done and then asking for more