Why has this happened???

[Edenviolet]

A few weeks ago I was in a state. Eating v badly (loads of sugary rubbish) and feeling and looking awful.

Went to gp and discovered I was anaemic so started iron tablets. Decided at the same time I needed to be healthier so...

Started walking even more (I do a fair bit of walking anyway), cleaned up my diet, replaced sugary rubbish with nuts and seeds for snacks, took multivitamins,have been eating really healthily and taking more care of myself, body lotion daily and drinking more water.
I look and feel worse

My skin is spotty and bumpy and blotchy. I feel horrendously exhausted. Iron tablets have made my digestion very sluggish and I look grey. My eczema on my hands has flared up and they are so sore.

Why???

Iron supplements can make you constipated. Could that be the problem? You could try over the counter med but speak your GP if you can. Or try prunes in the evening!

I've had Problems before with ferrous sulphate so gp prescribed ferrous fumarate. That probably is. The cause of the constipation.

Wish I knew why I looked so dreadful though, my diet has been so healthy yet my skin is disgusting and I look really unwell and grey.

Try ferro globin, it's much more gentle on your system.

The quality of your digestion shows in your skin.
Try docusate sodium to counteract the constipation.

Another good thing for iron is "green drink". Bag of spinach blended in pinapple juice. It has the texture of vomit (hard selling it now aren't I!), but the two flavours somehow neutralise each other. Apparently enzymes in the pineapple make the iron in the spinach more absorbable (or something like that). I made a "bag of spinach"-sized batch and drank it over three days and it really seemed to be effective for me without the bowel issues.

Alternatively try spatone instead of iron tablets - it's a liquid but supposed to be much gentler on the constitution. It tastes horrid, but you can put in in juice or something to take the taste away. Try to take iron supplements with orange juice anyway as it helps absorbtion.

Hope you feel better soon.

I'm no expert but I think a radical diet change such as this could definitely make you feel worse before you feel better. Your body is probably in mild withdrawal from the sugar etc it was used to. Disclaimer - I'm not a dietician.

Constipation can indeed make you feel rubbish. Prune juice or prunes, live yoghurt every day, maybe ground flax seeds on your cereal, all of them could help.

Spatone won't cause constipation as much, as QuiteQuietly recommended.

You've made fantastic lifestyle changes, I am sure that you'll soon start to feel and look better, these are really positive steps for a healthier life. Well done and good luck!

It can take up to two months for your iron levels to get back to normal if you are very anemic. How long has it been since you've been on the iron tablets?

I also suffer from anaemia. I also have a rotten time with iron tablets.

Spatone. Spatone. Spatone. It is utterly wonderful. You can get it from Boots but it is much cheaper online. I take a sachet a day, two when on my period or under stress. Marvellous stuff.

What is "healthy eating" for you? If it is low fat, low protein then that might cause the skin trouble.

I've been on iron tablets for about three weeks now. I'm definitely not following low fat diet as am a little bit underweight and so don't think low fat products would help. I've been trying to include more protein in the form of eggs and nuts etc and more water and salad.

Seconding Spatone. It's brilliant and doesn't make you constipated.

I went through (well fingers crossed, I seem to be out the other side now) a bad skin phase after giving up smoking almost a year ago. It really freaked me out. I have ALWAYS had good skin, always, even as a teenager. But after ditching the fags I started getting spots and bumps and dullness. I also put on weight, not lots, but I went from size 8-10 to a good 10-12. So I felt delightful, as you can imagine it felt so unfair that I had done something good and this was my reward.

Anyway, it took months, but I look pretty OK again now. I am taking vitamin D3 and starflower oil, eating plenty of eggs, peanuts, leafy greens and good protein.

It might just be some sort of reaction your body is having to what sounds like quite a radical overhaul of your lifestyle.

If you are anaemic enough to need proper iron tablets then Spatone just won't cut it. It's fine for maintaining iron for most people but does not have enough to get your levels back up quickly.

If it's only been 3 weeks that's really early days. Are you taking a vit c supplement too to help absorption? And cutting back on dairy because that inhibits iron absorption.

I would get your iron levels checked again in a week to see how that is progressing. As well as making you feel like crap it can make you look terrible too. I bet once the anaemia settles down so will everything else.

Are you getting plenty of sleep?

Btw I found the tablets you are on were not too bad for constipation and I had a horrendous time on sulphate.

If you are very anaemic over the counter stuff really won't be strong enough so please don't stop taking the tablets. At least not without speaking to your gp. You can get an injection if your case is very severe.

I really do think this is probably all just anaemia symptoms.

Not true about Spatone being good only for maintenance.

If you need to seriously up your levels then take larger doses of Spatone.

Medical professional suggested Spatone to me when my Hb levels were incredibly low (7.2). Apparently it is absorbed much better than tablets. I took 4 sachets a day for two months. It worked.

I was like a different person after two weeks, I kept up the high dosage on medical advice to build up my reserves.

Ferograd C works for me..iron with vit C so more easily absorbed

Please speak to your doctor before changing your iron medication. Also ask about your iron and ferritin levels being rechecked, it irritates me that I always have to push for this, it should be done as a matter of routine if you are anaemic. My GP advised me that Spatone and other liquid iron replacements are only useful for maintenance.

Once your circulating and store of iron start to go up, you will start to feel much better.

I think I will make an appt to have my levels checked again as I feel truly dreadful, exhausted and breathless even going upstairs!
I've been taking a vit a,c,d and e supplement too. I will get some spatone as well.
I look grey and drained so I'm sure it is the anaemia.

I think what has tipped me over the edge in recent months is a combination of still bf toddler ds and having horrendously heavy periods and also nosebleeds. I'm dreading my next one as dont think my iron levels will have gone up enough by then and I think it'll make me feel even worse.

I really wouldn't bother with the Spatone. My GP actually laughed that my mw had recommended it when I had severe anaemia with breathlessness and all the other horrendous symptoms because it is such low dose as to be negligible against severe anaemia.

Just to illustrate, a sachet of Spatone has 5mg of elemental iron. A single ferrous fumarate tablet (210mg) has 68mg iron. You would need to take almost 14 sachets of Spatone per day to get the same amount. I was on a double dose so that's 27 sachets or a whole box nearly. They are £££ too.

Op, is your gp treating your heavy periods? I'm not surprised you're on the edge. I would be too :(

I've always had heavy ones since they began, at one point the drs thought I had endometriosis but it was never followed up. I've had four caesareans and after the last one they have just got worse. I got referred to the hospital and had investigations but apart from ovarian varices and a very very thick lining they said nothing else was wrong.
I can't take the pill as I get horrendous migraines so feel like I'm stuck, I'm lucky that my cycle is 35 days so at least I get a bit longer in between!

I've been getting more nosebleeds recently which isn't helping either! I've started taking feroglobin this morning it was cheaper than spatone.i will see how I feel, fingers crossed it works.

There's an acid I forget the name of that can help with heavy periods. You shouldn't have to suffer :(

Mefanemic acid

Yes that's the one!