Iron deficiency anemia - Exhausted

[JM17]

Hi everyone

I went to the GP mid April because I wasn’t feeling 100%. I felt more tired than usual, eyes seem to struggle at times with focusing (eye test in jan and just a slight change so have got prescribed glasses to wear when eyes are tired on the laptop etc), especially when trying to concentrate. Some heart palpitations and then panicking I can’t breathe (when clearly I can because I’m still here!). Had the all over MOT blood test checking liver/kidney function, vits and thyroid etc.

A couple of weeks passed and my hands started going tingly and numb so rang docs up to explain and turns out I’m really rather low, non existent in iron so therefore am iron deficiency anemic. Great. (Thanks for not telling me that when my results were in!)

I’ve honestly been so so worried I have a brain tumour or something because my head has been feeling really fuzzy & again, not being able to concentrate and some of the symptoms of that is what’s made me so paranoid about it. Yes I know, I shouldn’t google!

I’ve been on 3 iron tablets a day, have upped my vit D, vit C, vit B etc for the last 3.5 weeks and I’m still feeling absolutely exhausted with my body just not feeling with it. Que the worrying it’s not just iron and it’s something else more sinister🙃.

When should I be starting to feel a bit more me? Because at this rate I’m just wanting to sleep ALL the time, not much good for my little one and I just want to feel normal again😭😭.

1. please please please make me feel better that I’m not actually dying with a brain tumour and I don’t have to pay for a private scan…

2. please tell me that a couple more weeks I should start feeling better with my iron tablets?…

Based on your symptoms I would push for an iron infusion. Then in 2-3 weeks you will feel much better. Just say you can't carry on like this, heart palpitations are worse etc....

What strength of iron pills are you taking? I read on hear about ferrous sulphate which are 200mg (instead of 7mg in most iron pills). You can get them from the pharmacy without a prescription and they have made a big difference for me. You have to take them on an empty stomach and don’t drink any caffeine.

I’m sorry your symptoms are so bad - it can be awful

*here

@Ohalpro i was taking ferrous gluconate 300mg twice daily. Then I’m now taking ferrous fumarate 210mg tablets but 3 times a day so more mg in total than my other one. Just don’t really feel any better at all. I wouldn’t be so worried but because I genuinely feel so shocking I am panicking. Didn’t realise iron deficiency anemia could make you feel so so so out of sorts. X

@Valhalla17 ahh they didn’t even mention anything like this. Just to increase greens, iron tablets with orange juice. Maybe I’ll ring up Monday and get back on them with I’m not feeling any better and see what they offer me.

I was looking into B12 injections too…

Again, just convincing myself I’ve actually got something more sinister going on.

can low iron anemia really make you feel this bad?!

@JM17 I am currently anaemic too ( but not due to iron deficiency) and can confirm that I feel shocking, so yes, I can say with complete confidence that it's dreadful. Think I'd be tempted to go back to GP in your shoes and investigate infusion as suggested. Good luck, hope you feel better soon!

What did the GP say about your thyroid levels?. Problems with the thyroid gland can cause these types of symptoms to arise.

I’m really sorry you’re feeling this bad.

I was in the same place this time last year and felt just awful. I remember the lying in bed throughout the jubilee weekend, in pain, unable to move, just on my knees.

So yes, anemia can make you feel awful. Have you got a follow up appointment booked at GPs? I think they are meant to retest after three months of supplementing if you are still symptomatic. Three months feels so long, I know.

I’m on and off anemic- it can make you feel dreadful. How low are you?

Are you anaemic and iron deficient ?
if you’re anaemic then it will take a few months to increase your Hb using oral supplementation.

With iron deficiency it’s also helpful to look at why you’re iron deficient?
Were you not having enough dietary iron?
Not absorbing it?
Or losing it eg heavy periods ?

So that what the cause can hopefully be corrected

Shouldn't the GP be investigating why you're iron deficient? Book another consultation and ask for an explanation of all your blood results. Hope you feel better soon

Yes it can make you feel that bad. As others say, they do need to get to the root cause of it.

Yes it can make you feel very bad. I had heart palpitations, couldn’t walk more than a block or two without being completely breathless and feeling like I was going to pass out.

However as PP mentioned, has your dr tried to get to the bottom of why you are anaemic? Do you have heavy periods? Do you have sufficient iron in your diet? There must be a cause for this.

I don’t want to add to your panic but in my case the anaemia was caused by bowel cancer. But I am post menopause and eat plenty of iron and had never been anaemic before so my GP said we need to find out the cause because you must be losing blood somewhere. So I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy which found a tumour. I have a very good prognosis thanks to my GP being thorough and acting quickly.

I also had an iron infusion to correct the deficiency and after a few weeks all my anaemia symptoms had disappeared. So I’d recommend that as a treatment but I would want to understand why this is happening if it’s something unusual for you.