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Anemic?

Just went to the GI Wed. Good news is my inflammation is finally starting to go down, but then he tells me to follow up with my regular doctor about anemia.

What exactly is anemia and what do you do about it?

What causes it?
 

My Butt Hurts

Squeals-a-lot!
Anemia is having a low count of your red blood cells (I think that's right).
You can help that count by taking iron, or eating iron rich foods. Taking iron pills bother a lot of people's bellies though. When I took iron I took one called slow F.E. It is way more expensive, but easier on the belly.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemia
 

GoJohnnyGo

One Badass Dude
I've got got serious problems with anemia. Likely has gone on for years too.

I came close to requiring a blood transfusion a couple of months ago.

Ive been loading up on the iron-rich food sources as well as the supplements.

Talk to your pharmacist. There's several types of pills. I found that Ferrous Sulfate was a bit harsh, so I switched to Ferrous Gluconate. There's one other variety I forget the name of.

Dark leafy greens, orange vegetables, beef liver, some fish, and venison are good sources.

Also, Vitamin C helps your body retain iron.

I've been into my regimen for a few months now, and am only starting to feel the benefits.
 
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Babe123

Guest
when i was taken into hospital i was seriously anemiac.. my blood count was 9! luckily the iron tablets worked otherwise i would have needed a transfusion although the ferrousious sulphate caused constipation which was uncomfy. now i make sure i eat something with iron in each day..although my GI is sure im anemiac again. but its relitvly easy to sort out
x

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i took 3 pills of 325mg of ferrous gluconate and it reversed my anemia. gluconate is good because it is an organic compound. anyways, talk to your doc about iron supplementation or shots.
 
Now I have to go for more blood tests tomorrow to test for more deficiencies...more pills to take I guess!
 
there's different types of anemia too... iron deficiency is different from the pernicious anemia i have, which is vitamin B12 deficiency. i get jabs every 3 months for this. yet my iron levels are fine.
 
Jeff D. said:
Eat lots of red meat and iron rich foods. I was anemic and started a red meat diet abd ahve been fine ever since.

I wish I could eat red meat, but it doesn't agree with me anymore. :(
 
B12, Iron, and Folic Acid will help increase red blood cell production as they are building blocks for such cells. Anemia is common with crohn's either due to blood loss or blocked absorption of nutrients like those mentioned.
 
Do you know what your count was? a woman should be between 12-14 and anything below 8 is BAD. I hovered between 9-10 at my worst, but got back up to 11-12 and so its not too bad.
 
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ls1krab

Guest
Yes, anemia is when your red blood count is low (hemoglobin?). I've been anemic since around March of this year because I haven't been able to stop my bloody stools. It sucks having to go to the ER to have a transfusion every few weeks or so... Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how did your GI's get the bleeding to stop???
 
I was seriously anaemic when I was first diagnosed... I remember it well (it was my 16th birthday). One minute I was in the day room at the end of the ward, the next I was made to go back to bed, given an iron injection, and then hooked up to a drip... looked like a litre of very dark liquid... I think it may have been Guinness (which is also a good source of iron, I believe). Not had many problems since then, although I obviously have quite frequent blood tests.
 
I've had serious, serious problems with anemia. I've had two blood transfusions in the past year. Unfortunately, I can't tolerate iron pills at all. I try to eat an iron rich diet, but I think my body just doesn't absorb it well. (You think 8 is low, I was at six when I got admitted to the hospital last year. My doctor told me that if I hadn't come in that day, I probably would have been there the next day as I would have collapsed. ;)

I also think that the bleeding many of us suffer from can make anemia worse.

I wish I had good advice on how to deal with the anemia, but for me, it pretty much only gets better when the inflamation goes down.
 
So far the tests that have come back:

From the CBC test RBC, HGB, HCT are all low and RDW is high. Everything else came out normal even B-12, Iron, and Folate tests. Will have to see what the Dr. says cuz now I am really confused. Not sure how many more tests will come back couldn't remember all of what they ordered.
 
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Babe123

Guest
ls1krab said:
Yes, anemia is when your red blood count is low (hemoglobin?). I've been anemic since around March of this year because I haven't been able to stop my bloody stools. It sucks having to go to the ER to have a transfusion every few weeks or so... Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how did your GI's get the bleeding to stop???
My GI cant find the cause of when i was bleeding.

i cant stand the sight of blood it makes me shudder
x
 
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