Anemia Support Group

Hello,

Yes I have had the same problem, blood levels are low, take iron supplements, iron levels go back. I get really bad gi symptoms and then I'm tired. I had to drink anything with caffeine, red bull, exercise pills, coffee... to help me stay awake, but then I would get jittery and well supposedly I'm an anxious person so thats a no no, plus this causes dehydration and can make you tired. The best thing is to try a vitamin B-complex supplement daily first and give it a week. This should help.

Hello, that's interesting to hear that you are still tired although your levels are back to normal. I have a similar question to yours...I've been on iron (only for two weeks now) and I'm still very light headed and lacking in energy. I'm surprised that I've been hit so bad by this as my levels were 10.3 (12 is norm supposedly..?). 10.3 does not sound so terribly low (my friend's mother was a 5), so I'm wondering do some people deal with anaemia differently. For example, my friend has constantly low iron but she carries on a reasonaly normal lifestyle without the light-headedness etc that I experience.

MonMC - I really don't know the answer to that. What type of iron supplements are you taking? Are you eating enough? The light-headedness may be a side-effect. I take Slow Fe. I get feelings of light-headedness, too. I'm not sure if that's from other meds that I'm on, or anxiety, or ? Don't know.

I do feel better then I did. I don't remember what my level was - it was low. I finally found out why I was so tired all the time.

FYI - I did just read that lightheadedness can be a symptom of iron deficient anemia. Although, there can be many other causes. Also, hair loss! My hair did get a lot thinner :(

I am also iron deficient anemia, and until they can find out Y u will still be anemic. They narroed mine down to GYN prob. So hopefully when I go and have my procedure done I will stop losing iron. My blood levels were like 6.4 and my iron was at an 8 totally depleted, was given transfusion in the hospital and then did outpatient iron infusion, but levels continue to drop its like having a leak in ur gas tank u put it in and it comes right out.So get a thorough check up--gastro dr. , gyno until they find out y ur losing iron. Good luck

my iron level was a 4 and my doctor just made me take iron supplements but too much that it made me sick to my stomach. ive been taking them for a year and half and he just keeps telling me to take them.

Blondie: yes light-headedness is a symptom of iron deficient anaemia alright..I'm lucky I didn't experience hair loss *touch wood, that must have been a dose! I was light-headed even before I started on the Iron supplements...I'm on ferrograd something...it's iron with vitamin C included to aid absorption.
I was just amazed that I had such noticeable symptoms for someone whose levels were not terribly low. However, my friend's mother, who, as I mentioned, was anaemic, is still taking one iron capsule per day even though her levels are nearly level now, just to keep them strong.
I have had a bad case of anxiety also recently..so it may have been triggered by the light-headedness...you mentioned anxiety yourself, I hope you feel better :)

There are a lot of other things that can cause you weakness and tiredness even dizzyness, like i have depression also and that contributes to it also my anxiety and even pregnency, so get checked up for other things because you may not just be anemic.

I think that if they didn't check your ferritin level, your ferritin levels may still be rising. I am on a treatment rest right now for a month so we can see if my ferritin levels rise. I still feel mostly the same...weak, tired, you all know the drill, but maybe a little better everyday. I think it's a very slow process, and if you think about how aweful things got when you couldn't function, it takes alot for your body to come back from that. The ferritin levels rise very slowly, like protein levels. My hemotologist says just be patient!

I was told that I will always have anemia until I'm post-menapausal (long time, lol). My hematologist says that my iron levels will always be prone to dropping. Technically, you could say that I'm not anemic right now, but my ferritin is staying at 20 which is pretty low considering the normal range goes all the way up to 200ish! I still find myself getting very weak and tired at times, but it's probably because I'm only taking my iron 2x a week instead of 2x a day/ 7 days a week.