Anaemia- tips until iron kicks in?

[momentarybliss]

I've suffered with bouts of anaemia over the years and it's reared it's ugly head again.

This time it's likely caused by the insanely heavy periods I have started having. I am awaiting further investigations in relation to those and am picking up my iron prescription tomorrow.

Just wondering if there are any tips to make me feel slightly more human until they kick in?

I feel so exhausted and like I've got a hangover every day. Feeling really miserable about it today.

Apologies I have no advice but I'm in the same boat so jumped on to see if ahyone else has advice. Waiting for my iron tablets to kick in currently. Or me it seems to make me anxious and breathless and I also wake up feeling hungover every day.

I'm trying to up my dietary iron intake but I'm vegetarian so it feels like a hard slog.

I hope you start to pick up soon.

@TheThinWhiteDutchess yeah I'm veggie too. Probably should have mentioned that before anyone recommends eating a steak or anything 😂

Been in tears this morning I'm so fed up with it.

Feel like I've been on a big night out last night when I was actually in bed at 9 as I was knackered as usual 😩

That sounds so rough. Out of interest has your GP said anything about you4 diet? I'm thinking of asking mine if they can recommend any dietary changes ( I've even been desperate enough to eat meat at some times!) or if I can stay on iron tablets long term.

@TheThinWhiteDutchess nah, nothing about diet. They only ever regurgitate what's on the NHS website anyway usually. I eat greens and beans and pulses anyway and take supplements. I think the killer this time has been the heavy periods as I just can't replace what I'm losing. I don't think eating red meat would solve it anyway.

My iron tablets kicked in over the last month or so and I feel so much better. Mine is due to heavy periods too. I started taking them in late January. In the meantime I ate lots of spinach, broccoli, nuts, dried prunes and apricots etc. Don’t know if it made any difference but made me feel like I was doing something. Also I rested as much as possible, not that I had any energy so little choice, but I gave myself permission to rest, watch soothing TV, do gentle restorative activities etc.

Best of luck with it. How are they treating the heavy bleeding?

@BillStickersIsInnocent thanks for your reply. I'll probably try and do similar to you. Awaiting a scan to check for polyps in my womb. Have had various other tests due to other gynae issues so just need to rule that out and then if all clear going to try Mirena coil. I know it's a mixed bag with how people get on with it but am prepared to give it a whirl to stop the horrendous periods.

I'm sorry, there's not a lot you can do until the iron starts to work. For me I found forcing myself to do even 5 or 10 minutes of activity helped to build up a bit of stamina. I've talking even a slow walk around the block: nothing intense. Start small and build on it.