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Anaemia and anxiety

4 replies

AgentCooper · 16/09/2015 17:25

I was wondering if anyone had had problems with MH issues being heightened by anaemia? I was recently diagnosed with iron deficiency anaemia. This only happened because I'd had a major relapse in my anxiety disorder, which seemed to come out of nowhere. For months, I've been feeling weak, nauseous, had palpitations and extremes of body temperature. This all kicked off when I was on holiday, after having been feeling my best in years for about 7 months (a record for me). I had lowered the dose of my ADs and even quit smoking and had got to the point where I was no longer identifying myself as an anxiety sufferer.

The last few months have been awful, with no real trigger, and I wonder if anaemia causing the physical symptoms has been the root of my relapse. Has anyone experienced similar worsening of MH problems with anaemia and, if so, did treating the anaemia make you feel any better? I know iron tablets aren't going to cure a psychological problem but I hope that it might ease the physical stuff which is such a big part of my anxiety.

OP posts:
meringue33 · 16/09/2015 20:42

Not sure, but I was anaemic post partum and also suffering from anxiety, so the two could well be linked

Sleepsoon · 16/09/2015 20:44

Hi OP, I've got serve iron deficiency Anaemia, and when my flare ups happen, my anxiety rockets.

AgentCooper · 16/09/2015 22:46

Thanks for replying, meringue and sleep. I'm sorry you have experience of this too, but it's helpful to know i'm not alone or imagining things.

I went to the GP myself to request blood tests as nobody had suggested them. I just thought the physical stuff was getting too much. And it's frustrating because things I was advised to try to ease the anxiety made me feel worse - running (which i used to enjoy) left me in pain and dizzy and beta blockers (which had helped the physical symptoms of anxiety previously) made me faint and vomit. At least having the dr acknowledge that there's something physical going on makes me feel a wee bit less like i'm losing it.

OP posts:
meringue33 · 20/09/2015 08:30

I know what you mean. Hope things improve for you soon Flowers

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