Anaemia & anxiety

Trinity

I'm sorry for posting here, i dont know if its the right place. SOme of you will be aware that i have suffered long term anxiety. I am currently seeing a psychiatrist for Post natal depression and the anxiety.

I don't want to take tablets, i am trying to get better without them.

Anyway sorry for the long post but do you find doctors dont take you seriously when you go in with a medical complaint? Most people i know with anxiety feel the same. Likewise i am sure if it probably difficult for doctors to know when to make the call for tests, and are probably blue in the face telling the same people there is nothing wrong with them, making the anxious person feel worse.

I am always at the doctor since my son was born by section 9 months ago. I have to go for my certs for work anyway.

Since he was born i havent felt good. But lately i have been deteriorating.

I presented with Dizzy spells, extreme exhaustion, headaches, no energy, confusion, forgetfulness, pains in legs, diarroia for weeks on end, pains in stomach when i eat or walk. More recently blood in stools and difficulty seeing things, eyes were shaking or blurry or something.

i was told it was anxiety.

i went back the other day and said i feel like i'm dying, i was in a terrible state. I couldnt cope with the kids at all, walking made me so weak.

She said in order to ease my mind she would order blood tests. I'm glad she did. I went on thursday, the hospital rang the doc on friday to say i was anaemic. My ferrritin levels were at 6, which apparently is quite bad and easily explains all of my symptoms, i still have anxiety but i am not surprised how bad its been lately with how i have been feeling. I have jsut started a double dose of iron for 6 months, have to get more bloods in 3 months.

Does anyone know please how long it will take for me to feel better, even slightly? I asked the doc would i feel better soon and she said hopefully.

I am not looking for medical advice, just any experiences people may have had. This has knocked me for 6 and i am angry that i was left feeling this way for so long.

i should also mention that a couple of years back my ferritin levels were 22, i have always had low blood pressure and have experienced heavy periods since birth of baby. I guess what i am saying is, should it not have been checked sooner given my symptoms and history?

Its not a blame thing, i suppose the important thing is i can now be treated and start to feel better.

Trinity1

Trinity1 wrote: »

I'm sorry for posting here, i dont know if its the right place. SOme of you will be aware that i have suffered long term anxiety. I am currently seeing a psychiatrist for Post natal depression and the anxiety.

I don't want to take tablets, i am trying to get better without them.

Anyway sorry for the long post but do you find doctors dont take you seriously when you go in with a medical complaint? Most people i know with anxiety feel the same. Likewise i am sure if it probably difficult for doctors to know when to make the call for tests, and are probably blue in the face telling the same people there is nothing wrong with them, making the anxious person feel worse.

I am always at the doctor since my son was born by section 9 months ago. I have to go for my certs for work anyway.

Since he was born i havent felt good. But lately i have been deteriorating.

I presented with Dizzy spells, extreme exhaustion, headaches, no energy, confusion, forgetfulness, pains in legs, diarroia for weeks on end, pains in stomach when i eat or walk. More recently blood in stools and difficulty seeing things, eyes were shaking or blurry or something.

i was told it was anxiety.

i went back the other day and said i feel like i'm dying, i was in a terrible state. I couldnt cope with the kids at all, walking made me so weak.

She said in order to ease my mind she would order blood tests. I'm glad she did. I went on thursday, the hospital rang the doc on friday to say i was anaemic. My ferrritin levels were at 6, which apparently is quite bad and easily explains all of my symptoms, i still have anxiety but i am not surprised how bad its been lately with how i have been feeling. I have jsut started a double dose of iron for 6 months, have to get more bloods in 3 months.

Does anyone know please how long it will take for me to feel better, even slightly? I asked the doc would i feel better soon and she said hopefully.

I am not looking for medical advice, just any experiences people may have had. This has knocked me for 6 and i am angry that i was left feeling this way for so long.

i should also mention that a couple of years back my ferritin levels were 22, i have always had low blood pressure and have experienced heavy periods since birth of baby. I guess what i am saying is, should it not have been checked sooner given my symptoms and history?

Its not a blame thing, i suppose the important thing is i can now be treated and start to feel better.

My iron was at 8 2 months ago. I am taking three months, single dose of galfer.
Had it tested again last week and it is up to 22.
I just feel better this week tbh.

Trinity

Thanks for reply Moonbaby!

i'm taking a double dose of spatone and some vitamin C.

But apparently now i dont have anaemia. I spoke to my own doctor mid week and she obviously read on file that the locum doctor rang and told me i had it.

She said my blood count is 12 which is normal, and ferritin is at 6 which is very low but she said that does not indicate aneamia. It just means you have low 'stores' of iron. But the other doctor read the results to me too and still said i had it?

I am actually starting to feel better with the iron although not 100% so I dont know?

Confused now!

I think anemia devolps slowly over time, if your levels stay low.
I'm confused by the blood count, Ferritin thing too tbh.
Apparently it takes about 6 months to build your stores back up.
Spatone is water soluable, so it any iron you don't need will be excreted from your system.
Great to hear you feel better anyway.

LegacyUser

hi trinity,
i would like to ask a question, when you say you suffer with anxiety, is there anything in particular to set you off, or is it just everything, its just lately i have been very very anxious about certain things and its really really worrying me!!, i would be very grateful for your advice, thank you

ZYX

Moonbaby wrote: »

I think anemia devolps slowly over time, if your levels stay low.
I'm confused by the blood count, Ferritin thing too tbh.
Apparently it takes about 6 months to build your stores back up.
Spatone is water soluable, so it any iron you don't need will be excreted from your system.
Great to hear you feel better anyway.

Anaemia is when your level of haemoglobin is below a certain level (which can vary depending on age and sex). Haemoglobin is made using iron. Ferritin measures the amonnt of iron stores you have. Obviously the lower your stores the more likely you are to become anaemic in future. However through a complicated mechanism a low ferritin can leave you feeling tired as well, so you may feel better if it is treated.
Spatone is almost totally useless by the way. A standard multivitamin tablet will usually have as much iron as 3 spatone sachets. Even a large bowl of fortified cereal eg cornflakes, cheerios etc will have more iron than a spatone sachet.

jtsuited

Trinity1 wrote: »

I don't want to take tablets, i am trying to get better without them.

hmmm... far be it from me to give you advice, but why wouldn't you take tablets?
If I have a really bad flu, I'm not gonna avoid taking drugs that'll help me recover.

Sinall

Trinity, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well.

I was seriously anaemic a number of years ago and had iron injections every two days for a few months. These were prescribed by my GP and administered by the clinic nurse. It took a few weeks for me to feel better but I had a lot of the same symptoms as you and they really did help. I took iron supplements for a while afterwards and made a conscientous effort to improve my diet.

Hopefully you will feel better soon.

Trinity

LittlemissPink wrote: »

hi trinity,
i would like to ask a question, when you say you suffer with anxiety, is there anything in particular to set you off, or is it just everything, its just lately i have been very very anxious about certain things and its really really worrying me!!, i would be very grateful for your advice, thank you

Hi, sorry i hadnt seen these replies.

Everything makes me anxious but thats cos i am a total worrier. I get worse when driving or if i dont feel well i start to think i am going to collapse etc. If i am late for something and start to rush around i get into a panic and get dizzy.

Do you want to discuss it further? YOu can PM me if you like, i'm very trustwothy with other peoples business, its just my own i cant keep to myself

Trinity

jtsuited wrote: »

hmmm... far be it from me to give you advice, but why wouldn't you take tablets?
If I have a really bad flu, I'm not gonna avoid taking drugs that'll help me recover.

Cos my my mother is on 12 a day and left on them. She has no emotions yet is still anxious. She has gone from a size 12 to a 22 and that causes her further depression.

Other than that i have heard bad things about meds.

I feel if i can have one good day i can have 2`and if i can have 2 then i can have 7 and thats what i am striving for is more good days than bad and it appears to be working cos despite a lot going on at the moment i havent been anxious for over a week.

Trinity

ZYX wrote: »

Anaemia is when your level of haemoglobin is below a certain level (which can vary depending on age and sex). Haemoglobin is made using iron. Ferritin measures the amonnt of iron stores you have. Obviously the lower your stores the more likely you are to become anaemic in future. However through a complicated mechanism a low ferritin can leave you feeling tired as well, so you may feel better if it is treated.
Spatone is almost totally useless by the way. A standard multivitamin tablet will usually have as much iron as 3 spatone sachets. Even a large bowl of fortified cereal eg cornflakes, cheerios etc will have more iron than a spatone sachet.

I think they prescribed me that one in particular as my stomach goes crazy when on iron. Even multi vitamins have to be stopped after a week til stomach settles then start again.