What does anaemia feel like? (Or am I just dying or a wimp?)

[brownmouse]

I feel like I've been poisoned! All my limbs are aching and I can even face going up the stairs (although I have to because fibroids!).

I've been on Cerazette for six weeks, bleeding for four of those. For the last ten days I've been bleeding heavily (5-10ml an hour) and I'm just feeling so weak. I look shite.

I've rung GP(s) three times and they just say: stick with the Cerazette for three months. I've persuaded the GP to let me have a blood test tomorrow.

Is this blood loss making me feel this bad? I'm now having to work from home because I'm trap shattered that I can't get to work. I feel so pathetic and like I need to put I'll myself together but I really can't.

Help!

Oh poor you. I suffer from anaemia and I can tell you sometimes I feel dizzy with tiredness, want to just lie on the floor and sleep or just can't be bothered to do something normal because I feel so tired. Definitely push for a blood test.

I would think that the blood loss as a result of the fibroids is the root cause. Explain to the GP this is impacting on your day to day activities.

Have you actually been referred by the GP to a gynae for further evaluation re the fibroids?. Those can certainly cause heavy bleeding.

want to just lie on the floor and sleep or just can't be bothered to do something normal because I feel so tired

this is exactly how i feel too! ive been anaemic on/off for the past 5 years. recently i thought my depression/mental health was declining, but i had an epiphany when i had to stop tidying and lie on the bedroom rug at 3pm after 10 hours sleep!

even things like tidying, doing dishes - you are so fatigued it feels like an impossible task. i genuinely couldnt understand how people manage to get up and go to work everyday.

i also had hair loss, palpitations, brittle peeling nails, acne, pale skin, breathlessness and dizziness after exercise.

Thanks all. That is just how I feel. Not sleepy so much as it all seems impossibly tiring! I feel weak.

Blood tests today. GP won't refer to gynae yet. Says I have to give Cerazette three months and then we can discuss. I have thought about going private just so I can have a proper consultation.

I became very anaemic after bleeding heavily for several weeks after going on the mini pill and ended up having a blood transfusion.
I felt weak, fatigued, breathless, palpitations, really anxious, heavy aching limbs.
The bleeding settled down on its own eventually, but I do also take Tranexamic Acid when I'm bleeding a lot.
Good luck.

Thanks tonic. Did you still to the mini pill then? Did it help in the end?

Sounds like anemia, I keep getting it too, out of breath, dizzy, fatigued, leg pains, swollen tongue. I'd ditch the poison (cerazette) if you don't need it and up your intake of iron foods along with vitamin c (helps absorption) and don't take dairy/calcium 2 hours before and after iron (these inhibit absorption of iron). Iron from animals is absorbed easier than veg. Grains inhibit absorption too. Wishing you luck, anemia is hell.

Thanks luckystar

The GP is very insistent that I stick to the Cerazette... I don't know how much longer I can; it feels like it's just not going to stop this bleeding.

Had to come back from work today to work at home - got through two changes of clothes and passed a blood clot that looked like a dead trout.

But you're losing so much blood that it seems to be giving you anemia symptoms, i'd have thought this would be a warning sign for your GP? Seems negligent to me. I don't like the sound of it as I know how awful anemia is :(

I want to add that you're not pathetic, when I first got it, I felt like I was dying too and the first GP I saw didn't tell me I might have anemia, eventually ended up at an out of hours GP who then said that's what it could be. It was, even though my iron was at 'the lower end of ''normal'''. I had pernicious anemia and I was lucky to start taking B12 and iron supplements in time because I also had burning sensation and weakness in my hands like peripheral neuropathy.

Spoke to GP again. She seemed confused about blood test results : said haemaglobin was 39 but then said 139. Ferritin 11.

She wants me to take Noretheristerone to counteract the side effects of the Cerazette. Try for ten days and then come off it and see if things are any better.

I feel so unhappy just stuffing myself with drugs and I'm so weak and feel awful. But I feel like I should just be a good girl and do what they suggest...

You don't have to take any drugs if you don't want to, I learned that the hard way, it's really your choice and it sounds like they're making you unwell so I would seriously consider stopping the cerazette. But that's only because I know how bad anemia feels. The ferritin sounds pretty low, I don't know about the other reading as they tell me my folic acid, b12 and ferritin levels instead when I get blood out.

Is the cerazette one you would have to lower the dose gradually or is it possible to stop right away?

Some meds can inhibit absorption of iron/b12 too, I know that Effexor does as I have personal experience of it.

You could likely still phone them and ask your folic acid and b12 too if you wanted. My folic acid is at 2.2 now and i'm on a supplement because that's too low, I am still on b12 and my ferritin is 37 which is kinda fine i'm sure.