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Iron Deficiancy anemia

:depressed: Well I just got a call from my Doctor today telling me I am anemic with low iron and there is a script waiting at the pharmacy for me. Well, I am nervous now as I do not know excactly what this means and how it will affect me.:confused2: I have been noticing certain things and now I know why lately.

Is anyone going thru this and what do I expect from this?

Is it just another stage of CD?

Am I going to get sicker and be in more pain?

What does this mean long term for me?

So many more questions that I dont even know what to ask. I hate it when the Doctor calls me at home, its never with good news :lol: . Now I sit on the net to research and ask questions, not really how I wanted to spend my day :lol: .

Well I must go for now, hope to hear from you all again, everyone is so helpful here on this site, thank you all.

Sincerely and Respectfully, Gary
 
I've been anemic on several occasions. The only symptom that I've noticed is a general lack of energy. Oh and you could get pale.

I've recovered fully every time. I took iron tablets when I was first diagnosed but my current doctor just sends me to get an iron infusion in the hospital. It's like getting an instant shot of energy which I notice within a couple of days.
 
That is a lot of what I been feeling, is way over tired. I'm a person who dont fall asleep during the day ever and now I have been groggy and have caught myself dozing off a lot.


P.S. Is there any major concerns I should be worried about this? What to watch out for ect.
 
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Now that you know that you have it you can work towards making it better.

I noticed a huge improvement in my energy, dizzy spells and lethargy once I was diagnosed with anemia and started taking iron & b12.

Try to choose foods that are iron rich - dark leafy greens, cooked beans and lentils, enriched breakfast cereal and meat are some examples. There's lot of info on the internet about iron rich foods.
 
Hey,

I've been anemic pretty much constantly since I was 13 and first diagnosed (now 25). I personally HATE iron pills because they hurt my stomach and make me constipated...which is annoying. I can always tell when I'm getting too anemic because I get super tired and a little dizzy when I stand up.

The real danger with anemia is you start bleeding, such as having blood in your stool, because your blood levels can get too low. I've had to have two blood transfusions for this sort of thing, but only when I was in serious bad flare mode.

I'd say the upshot is that (a) anemia isn't too big a deal (and is incredibly common with people with UC or CD) and (b) its really one of the more benign explanations for symptoms like exhaustion and dizziness...so YAY! Take your iron and eat your leafy green vegetables (or liver...I hear that's great for it. ;) Oh...and if your poo turns black, don't worry, that's just the iron pills. There's nothing wrong with you. ;)
 
hey gary
yup ive been through a lot of anemia too.

symptoms are pretty much being extra tired, pale, maybe an increased heartrate, and when you hemoglobin is real low you can get heart palpitations.
many iron pills also made my belly hurt, i finally found one that was gentle enough, but i ended up not really absorbing anything cause of all the inflammation.
i had a couple blood transfusions (theyre not as scary as they sound), and then had iron infusions for a few months and im doing pretty good now.

just be aware that there are different types of anemia out there:
-if you are not consuming enough iron, b vitamins, etc then your blood doesnt have what it needs to create the hemoglobin. fixed by consuming more iron or taking a supplement.
-if you ARE consuming enough but are too inflamed to absorb effectively, then you still arent getting what you need to make hemoglobin. fixed byt taking iron via iv or getting blood.
-if you are consuming enough AND absorbing properly (this is ruled by the fact if you are getting it thru iv as theres no questions of absorbtion there), then the problem may be in your bone marrow itself. not sure of the specifics, but somehow crohns can sometimes affect the mechanism in youre bone marrow that is responsible for creating hemo. and this can only be dealt with by treating the crohns itself.
 
I had very low iron also. I could not tolerate iron pills so I had a few infusions. They held well as i had low inflammation at the time. The iron infusions made a huge difference in my life and well being. It helped my memory and tiredness and quality of sleep. I had more colour in my face too !
I am having my iron levels checked again tomorrow. Hopefully they have held their ground. If not I'll go in for a top up ;)
 
I was anaemic when I was first dx many years ago, I had to have an iron transfusion and then took pills for a long time. I've been OK for a long time, though, maybe because there's a lot of iron in chocolate... heh!heh!

Not seen you on here for a while Gary. Hope everything is OK with the leg injury you had... but I'll understand if you still can't talk about it on a public forum!
 
Agent X20, I ended up having knee surgery about a week ago that is all I can say for now. Also just got back from RENO, a friend took me for two days, what an experience!!! I had a blast to say the least.
 
I have to have iron infusions when this happens to me. My hematoligist always asks me if i am craving ice?? She said it is a good way to tell if your iron is low.Sound a bit odd but when she asked me that. I thought about it and i had been eating ice and had not even thought about it. I just have to get refueled with the infusion and i am good for awhile. Oh she did tell me the same thing about poor absorbtion and whimpy cell that needed more than a pill to plump them up. Hope it gets better and you have more energy!
 
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