Anaemic and vegetarian

[halfwildlingwoman]

Hi
I have just had a blood test due to tiredness which says that I am anaemic. I have been vegetarian for 27 years so I'm not entirely surprised. However, when I was pregnant I started eating fish, maybe once a fortnight. So, I have re-read the list of foods rich in iron and other than the meat, I already eat them all regularly! I eat practically no processed food. I have had very heavy periods for the last six months which may well be the cause.
I suspect the GP will just put me on iron tablets. When I took these in pregnancy the constipation was almost as bad as the tiredness!
Anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do?

When people say they cannot take the iron tablets, what do you mean?

My ds (14) is veggie and has just been diagnosed anemic with iron deficiency. His diet had become a bit samey and so I have sorted that. But he is taking the ferrous tablets. He has stomach ache quite a bit and I cannot work out if that is related. He was quite ill a few years ago and so he is not good at telling me about symptoms as he generally expects to feel crap. (we found out he was anemic because he was falling asleep at school). I think he may be constipated so have given him senakot. He also gets ridiculously tired when he tries to eat. Obviously he will go back to the dr in about a month but does anyone have any other advice in the meantime please?

oh classic double post - sorry

Get a lucky iron fish

hmmm is that a testimonial? have you tried this.

No, haven't tried it personally, stilllearnin but it's had coverage on the news eg BBC quite a bit recently and sounds like a rather ace idea to me.

In addition to all the other great advice above, try drinking orange juice with your spinach and bran flakes (or your iron tablets) the vitamin C really aids absorption.

Supplements with the iron in heme form are the most absorbable (& therefore most expensive) & less of a constipating effect. Iron bisglycinate supplements are another highly absorbable & non-constipating iron compound. Both available online. You could use these short-term to boost levels then maintain with more readily available supplements.

Make sure both your haemoglobin and ferritin levels are monitored. Commonly people tend to mean haemoglobin when referring to iron levels, which is circulating iron whereas ferritin is stored iron.

Ah thanks, I did not not know about baggie capsules - useful to know

Thank you everybody - the posts about heavy periods got me thinking more. I do think I have a pretty balanced diet and it would be odd that this has only come up twice in all the time I have been vege.
I followed links on NHS choices and now think I may have fibroids. I have the following symptons:
heavy periods
frequent urination (one of the reasons I requested a blood test as was worried about diabetes.
bloating - despite being a size 10 my stomach is large. I have been doing daily exercises for separated stomach muscles for 18 months to little effect.

Anyone else think this is a possibility? Should I push to be referred for a sonogram?

Did you mention those symptoms to the doc when you requested blood test?

Or are you not in UK quite possibly?

Certainly, periods that are heavy, are IMHO (lay, not medic!) worth investigating -they're not something that we should just put up with. So dont be fobbed off. Paired with frequent urination and bloating, yes, I would be mentioning all this to docs.

I'm another anaemic veggie, with heavy periods. I ant take hormonal medication, and don't want ablation so am pretty much resigned to managing the periods, and taking iron supplements every day, and more when I am bleeding. I take ferrous fumarate, which suits me ok.