Tiredness, nausea and feeling ugh after periods -in my 16 year old teen.

[salimali55]

Hi- my daughter suffers from what we call post not pre-mt. She is ill for up to a week (but can be longer) with tiredness, nausea and headaches. She has had blood tests so is not low in iron. It has happened after her period every month for at least 4 months and perhaps on and off for the last year. Has anyone else experienced this and any advice, thanks. She is fed up of being ill, its affecting her school work and also her social life..

Did they check her ferritin levels too? That is her iron stores. She may not be anaemic, which is when the red cell count is low, but she might have low ferritin levels, which in some people can cause symptoms like anaemia - tiredness and headaches being two of them. If her ferritin is low, she could have iron tablets or she could have something less harsh over the counter. If you ignore low ferritin, eventually you'll become anaemic and feel worse. It sounds like it could be worth looking into this, as it's pretty much how I feel after my periods and I have low ferritin.

They did check her iron levels but they were ok.Maybe as you say, she is borderline low ferratin/iron.. Did you buy over the counter ones or from the doc-and which tablets did you have? Thank you for answering. I was beginning to wonder if only she suffered from it cause I couldnot find much if any info about it on the internet. One doc suggested if it continues she could be put on the pill (mild form). Was that suggested to you or just ferratin tablets? Have the ferratin tablets solved it?

My dd age 17 has been taking spatone for a year now and it made a huge difference. If she is struggling could she go on the pill for a while and see if it helps her.

Thanks- I have not heard of Spatone befor. I will definitly get some for dd. I rather try natural solutions first.

it might be worth her taking a vitamin B complex too, as these are important for female health.

When I was anaemic I took iron tablets from the doctor. Then I stopped being anaemic but I still had low iron stores (ferritin), so I carried on with iron. Then they gave me stomach problems so I went onto spatone and at the moment am taking Ferroglobin which is an iron and vitamin b complex with vitamin c supplement - it is much lower dose that the stuff you get from the doc, but is fine if you just have low ferritin. Spatone is an iron enriched water that you put into juice or water; ferroglobin is a liquid medicine that you take 1 spoon 2 times a day.

When the doc said her iron levels were fine, they might have meant that she was not anaemic, but they may not have checked ferritin. How many phials of blood were taken? If it was just a full blood count (which would show red cells and not ferritin) then it would have been one phial. If they used 2, then the chances are that they did check her ferritin levels too.

I think it'd be worth going back to the doc to check what they actually did test for. You don't want to be supplementing if she doesn't need it because too much iron can be bad; and they need to be looking at other reasons why she might still be feeling ill. And if they didn't test for ferritin, then they can do it.