Low iron symptoms

[Kamek]

Hi. If you have been diagnosed with iron deficiency, would you mind saying what your symptoms are/were? I think I might be anaemic but some of my symptoms aren't necessarily the classic symptoms listed on medical info.

There's a great Facebook group called 'Iron Deficiency with / without anaemia'. I didn't realise there could be a distinction. My main symptom has been overwhelming fatigue and weakness, but I've also had dizziness, pins and needles in my arms, and language problems like forgetting and muddling words. Loss of appetite. There are loads of symptoms. Heavy periods too although I'm trying to work that out - bit of a chicken and egg scenario with that one.

I had symptoms such as feeling faint, (so much so that if I stood up too soon I would almost fall over and would have black spots and spinning head and headache). I had palpitations during exercise, cold and tired all the time, physically and mentally tired and I would take days to recover from exercise. I would take a long time to recover from illness and any sores/bruises.

Exhaustion, palpitations, dizziness, constantly picking up viruses. Also restless legs at night,

Tiredness just walking up stairs - legs felt like dead weights, breathlessness after short exercise and brain fog were my main ones.

@Sherunswithwolvesmine was caused by heavy periods and I’ve had the Mirena coil fitted and it’s (so far) sorted those.

Most of the above - but also insomnia and my phone touchscreen not responding because fingers were cold/blood wasn’t pumping around well.

Nausea, dizziness, low energy, exhaustion, get v cold easily and can’t warm up, memory problems, struggle with word recall and train of thought. I don’t know which of these are down to long covid, which are down to peri and which are down to low iron. They all started about same time. HRT doesn’t seem to be helping though, my ferritin has only gone up a couple even though I’ve been on iron tablets since last year. What are your symptoms OP?

Bloody hell - is this a thing?! I have this with the touchscreen sometimes. I also wake up sometimes as my nose is so cold and need gloves to go the fridge sometimes. That part has been better recently, but maybe just due to it being warmer generally.

Thanks all for replying. @Rowyour ive been getting a bit dizzy which i don't normally. Like a few seconds where it feels like I'm on a boat. Twitching muscles. Also bursts of tinnitus and whooshing in my ears several times a day. Im very pale too. Complete exhaustion. I have regular NHS B12 injections so I know its not my B12 now. Also ive been taking vit D for years since I was diagnosed as deficient in that so I'm confident that's not causing this either. My heart races sometimes for no reason and that lasts a few seconds too. Another weird thing is my muscles have no resilience any more. Even drying my hair with a hairdryer or walking up my stairs makes my muscles I'm using burn almost. My doctors get a bit annoyed if you go in and suggest what might be wrong so I wanted to hear from others before I contact them and ask for a blood test

My touchscreen abilities were at their worse during the heatwave but I have just cleared out my phone's cookies/cache for the first time in ages which might also have been the cause!

@Kamek I've been diagnosed and my main symptoms are breathlessness, even at rest. And exhaustion/weakness.

What are your iron levels?

@Kameka blood test is pretty easy for them to do. I just did an econsult form and ticked symptoms - I don’t think I suggested I thought it was anaemia just presented my ‘feeling crap’ symptoms!

i was on 1200 mg of ferrous iron for 3 months and my iron levels went from 4 to 31 (severe anaemia is <10) and haemoglobin from 89 to 124 (should be above 120)

I’m not sure why my earlier message has been deleted/blocked btw… it was just about tablets and OTC blood tests to check ferritin levels. Would agree that your surgery won’t be fazed by a request for blood tests. Hope you feel better soon…

I have suspected endometriosis, and have very low iron.

I'm always tired, low energy. Can't get warm or tolerate the cold.

I was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago with serious anaemia. I had an iron infusion and I need to take iron tablets too. Unfortunately this was diagnosed when I had kidney issues so Im on a lower dose than the recommended one.

I had absolutely no symptoms at all.

Ive had loads of blood tests done finally! But the GP says they're all normal. The ferritin is 27 though which I think is low but they're insistent 27 is completely normal.