DD ill with heavy periods but not anaemic - help!

[buttonmoon78]

DD1 is 14.5. She began her periods aged 13.1 and from the first one they were ultra heavy (think huge flooding onto sheets, ruining clothes etc) and every 21 days to the day. She's been on the pill for about a year which has helped with the spacing but not much with the flow. Now, for a few months, she's been poorly just before each period - off her food and nausea, pale, wibbly and tired, woozy if she stands up too fast etc. I was assuming it was anaemia so was shocked today when the results from yesterday's bloods came back as normal. So now I'm worrying what else it can be? She's back in to see the gp on Tuesday, but if anyone's got any ideas or things to ask the gp I'd be most grateful.

She's off school again today. This is happening every single damn month and she's meant to be doing her GCSEs for goodness' sake!

Thanks all for the advice. I'll ask for a copy of the results on Tuesday when we go again.

Ok. So I have a copy of the blood count. What am I looking for?

You want to get her iron stores tested - the official name is Ferritin. You are anaemic if your haemoglobin and red cells are low, but you can have healthy red cells and haemoglobin but low ferritin, which is where the iron is stored. If your ferritin goes too low, you eventually become anaemic. I tend to feel ill if I have low ferritin, before I actually become anaemic. GPs often don't test for this as a matter of course - they have to request it separately from a full blood count, so it is definitely worth making sure that her iron stores are not depleted.

Oh ok, so the print out I have here is likely to be useless. Deep joy. More tests then.