r/Anemic

Help!

I took 3x 100mg of Ferrous Ascorbate yesterday.

1x 100mg morning

1x 100mg midday

1x 100mg evening

Today I woke up with severe stomach cramps and nausea. Would it be from the medicine?

Is this dose dangerous? Some articles are saying it can lead to lethal toxicity and now I’m scared.

My iron levels were 20 on a recent blood test so took the Ferrous Ascorbate to help raise it.

Please help 🤍

I'm exhausted. all the time. I can barely walk, exercise, and all I want to do is sleep. all my grades are slipping.

ferritin of 2. yes. 2. all my doctors just raised an eyebrow and said whatever.

no periods unless they choose to pop up like 3x a year max for 2-3 days. which you would think is great bc pcos (again, doctors have said I probably have it but haven't bothered to diagnose me bc of age) but I would take that over this constant tiredness.

the brain fog. I can't form coherent sentences anymore. I want to sleep and rot. help.

I’m just curious whether those that have low ferritin due to heavy menstruation have ever measured their monthly blood loss? I’ve been struggling with low ferritin for some years. It hovers around 6-9. I’m supplementing with oral iron but it seems to only keep my ferritin stable rather than increasing it. I’ve measured this past month using a menstrual cup and loose approximately 200ml per cycle (very high possibility of Adenomyosis in my case) which explains why I can’t actually increase my ferritin. What is your blood loss amounts like?

Hello, I'm new to the subreddit. I've had anemia since I was at least 16 years old and I'm 26 now, finally getting treatment for it after iron supplements not being helpful. I got my very first venofer transfusion 4 days ago, and my doctor scheduled a colonoscopy to be done two days after. For the most part, I was feeling pretty normal besides my arm being sore. But today I'm definitely feeling it. I feel absolutely exhausted, the brain fog is horrible. I'm also having body aches EVERYWHERE. I had to work today and by the time I got out, I was painfully limping to my car because my ankles, back, and arms were so sore. I don't know if anyone has experienced anything like this days after a transfusion, or if it could be like an electrolyte imbalance (I did have to do colon prep and my eating has been off the past couple days). My doctor won't be in for a couple days and I honestly don't want to get stuck with an ER bill if I go tonight, just for them to tell me this is to be expected and I just need to rest. Has anyone had a similar experience? Please help an anxious person out 😭

My iron deficiency is most likely caused by a very high dose of ppi I'm taking for my hiatal hernia. I started suspecting something was wrong when I suddenly had two migraines with only three weeks apart, when I normally get them about twice a year. I'm luckily seeing a gastroenterologist on Monday to discuss everything, but man... The migraines are horribly painful - 6 straight hours of pure hell that I'm barely able to recover from due to my non-existent energy reserves. As a result, my anxiety for a possible next attack keeps increasing, and I panic throughout the day whenever I think I'm seeing an aura as I'm terrified it will happen again.

God, I hate being anaemic so much.

Hi everyone,

A little over a week ago, I started iron infusions after being severely anemic (my hemoglobin was 7.6), and honestly, I felt incredible at first.

The next morning, I had energy that I haven’t felt in I can't remember how long. But after my third infusion, I was running to catch up to someone (maybe 1 minute), and I suddenly felt pain around what seemed to be my kidney area.

Since then, I’ve had discomfort on my lower left side that I’ve never experienced before. I saw my doctor, and they said I have a UTI and prescribed antibiotics. My doctor also mentioned I’m a bit constipated.

I’m starting to feel a bit anxious about it, so I wanted to ask has anyone experienced something similar after iron infusions and if this something that is dangerous?

I’ve had IDA for over 5 years now. I need 3-4 infusions of INFED a year to stay alive. I’ve had every test, been through 2 cancer centers, and 4 Hematologists. They can’t find anything wrong.

I’m not looking for advice, I just wanted to rage and I figured some of y’all would understand: I CANT BREATHE!!!!!!

I’m so so so so so so so so tired of being tired from feeling like I can’t get enough oxygen! My chest, diaphragm, and shoulders get tired and achey from taking so many deep breaths throughout the day. I yawn constantly. I’m lightheaded and feel close to fainting much more often than I ever thought possible. But guess what? My bloodwork is mostly normal so I just wait until I’m sick “enough” to get another infusion and the cycle starts over again. I’m only 40 and I feel like I’m 70. I’m so over it!!!

I am 33 weeks pregnant. My ferritin level is 6 and my saturated iron is 5. ☹️

I generally am not feeling very well these days. I am often light headed, and I am trying to decide if I can drive to and from these appointments. It's about a 30 min drive from my home.

I’ve been feeling like absolute crap recently and decided to do some of my own research to try to figure out what was going on.

I am diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety and have been anemic in the past. I’ve been experiencing significant fatigue, daily headaches, brain fog, significant forgetfulness/absentmindedness, exercise intolerance, depression/anhedonia, irritability, emotional dysregulation, chronic muscle pain especially in neck and shoulders, heat intolerance, cold hands and feet, dizziness, restless legs, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, hair loss, the list goes on and on.

Something told me to ask my PCP to add ferritin to my recent labs. Lo and behold, my ferritin is 12. Looking back it’s only been 12 or 13 for at least 3 years. The labs show a range of 8-300+ as ”normal” so my PCP never thought to investigate further. They literally just thought I couldn’t get my ADHD, depression and anxiety medicated properly despite trying to for at least a decade now.

I feel a lot of relief and believing I have figured out why I have been feeling so sick but at the same time I am incredibly angry at this systemic failure that I know affects women significantly more than men. I am trans/non-binary and take testosterone weekly which is known to increase overall red blood cell count and hematocrit. I had been donating blood 3-4 times a year because I’m O- as well as for the relief it provides me from getting overheated with the increase in red blood cells. Needless to say, I have to put donating in pause for the foreseeable future.

After advocating for myself hard with a doctor that was taking place of my normal PCP while they’re out of office, they still did not take my symptoms seriously. I asked them to prescribe an iron infusion and they said they are new to that office and had never done so before. They ended up placing a routine referral for me to see a hematologist which will take months and then the hematologist would have to prescribe the infusion which would probably get denied by my insurance then I would have to appeal, blah, blah, blah. I love living in America, the best country in the world! /s.

Thankfully, I am able to afford at least one iron infusion out of pocket at a private IV therapy clinic. After consulting with their nurse practitioner, they suggested 3 infusions of Venofer (200mg) to bring my ferritin close to 100. I’m a bit nervous as I haven’t had an iron infusion before but I am much more tired of being sick and tired so I am willing to take the risk.

Would love to hear people’s experience with iron infusions, particularly Venofer. Did it help raise your ferritin? How long did it take you to feel better after the first infusion?

Demographic:

Age: mid-30s

Gender: Transmasculine/NB

Sex: F

Current Diagnosis's: ADHD, Major Depression, General Anxiety, iron deficiency without anemia.

Most recent labs:

Ferritn: 12

Iron: 77

Iron binding capacity: 416

Iron saturation: 19%

RBC: 5.33

Hemoglobin: 14.6

Hematocrit: 47.4

MCH Concentration: 30.8

on Wednesday I went to my doctor and told her how im tired all the time and blah blah blah, she said im badly iron and vitamin D deficient, I have iron pills 65mg plus eating foods with iron any recommendations or am I doing ok.

Have you ever thought that your fatigue might not be the same as others with low iron? I feel exhausted, my legs feel weak, and I only start to feel better in the afternoon and evening. 😭

I used to take iron as a teen and once I got my levels back up I stopped taking them although I was advised to still take them on my period. I’m 24 now and last time I was prescribed them, I was 18 (took them for about 6 months). I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety and a few days ago I remembered that I was never really anxious when I was taking my iron supplements, I took a few iron gummies ( 18mg) and that immediately took the edge off and I haven’t been anxious since. I haven’t had blood work in a very long time due to insurance issues but I’m pretty sure I might be low iron again. TMI but whenever I’m on my period, it’s ridiculously heavy, like I go through an ultra tampon every 1-2 hours. Has taking iron helped your anxiety?

Has anyone gotten headaches when increasing their iron dose? How long does it typically last and should I push through or lower my dose?

I recently increased from 27mg ferrous bisglycinate daily to 54mg ferrous bisglycinate daily.

Thanks for any advice.

hi! I've had bad headaches most days three weeks since my iron 1000mg carboxymaltose infusion..I do suffer from headaches and migraines usually but these are totally different. also have a cold the last week and I never usually get sick. going to doctor Monday to get phosphate checked as I've heard this can cause ongoing headaches. anyone else had symptoms that have lasted this long? what to do? worried this might just go on...I can't work they are so debilitating. thankyou

Hey all! So I’ve been literally passing away and fainted/ended up in the ER twice this week just to get finally get iron tests and see that it’s at 21. the ref range is 10-106. idk what to do with that info because I’m obviously not fine (lots of dizziness, pulsing in my ears, heart palpitations/breathlessness from just changing positions in bed, cold ALL the time, and uber tiredness but then I can’t sleep???) I’m not sure they’re gonna do anything bc of the reference ranges showing normal but every resource is saying below 30 is deficient. Any tips??

**normal hemoglobin levels so not anemic???

I have made extremely poor and strange, creepy choices because i didn’t think through my actions properly. i was skipping my iron pills because they were giving me diarrhea. i don’t know if it’s because ive beeb iron deficient my whole life but it feels like i can barely resist the temptations and i dont feel like i can think properly.

i was healing with the pills, but once I slowed down on them, i made these poor choices.

there have been studies that say children with iron deficiency exhibit impulsivity.

I recently learned that sucrosomial iron supplements are now available in the U.S., and I've heard that they are about as effective as iron infusions but without the side effects. Has anyone tried these supplements, and what was your experience? I've been on ferrous gluconate, and my ferritin only went from 2 to 8 over the course of the year. I'm wondering if I should switch to sucrosomial iron to boost my ferritin quickly.

Been working my way through the iron protocol guides and I noticed they mentioned B12 injections might slow down the process of increasing ferritin.

I've had heavy periods for years, taken the same iron supplement for years, and my ferritin and hgb only tanked after I started getting B12 injections. Could that be a factor or is it just coincidence?

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