Iron

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thanos5
thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I just went to give blood today and didn't pass the iron test. they said i had to be at 13 and it was 12.3. so they sent me on my way with a deferral letter stating ways to get more iron in my system (fish, spinach, etc), which is pretty much my daily diet.

Any ideas why my iron would be low? I'm 45, lost about 48ish pounds since september, and am diabetic but relatively healthy otherwise.

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,944 Member
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    I had a few periods in my life when I was diagnosed anemic. Once it was after a significant weight loss, I was eating pretty low calories and also on some serious medications for an unrelated illness.

    I think this is a question for your doctor. Maybe eat at maintenance calories for a month or so and get retested?
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    I had a few periods in my life when I was diagnosed anemic. Once it was after a significant weight loss, I was eating pretty low calories and also on some serious medications for an unrelated illness.

    I think this is a question for your doctor. Maybe eat at maintenance calories for a month or so and get retested?

    I agree, it's much more unusual for men to be anemic, so if maintenance calories don't work, a doctor's visit might be in order.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited March 2019
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    thanos5 wrote: »
    I just went to give blood today and didn't pass the iron test. they said i had to be at 13 and it was 12.3. so they sent me on my way with a deferral letter stating ways to get more iron in my system (fish, spinach, etc), which is pretty much my daily diet.

    Any ideas why my iron would be low? I'm 45, lost about 48ish pounds since september, and am diabetic but relatively healthy otherwise.

    Do you have acid reflux or GERD?

    I became severely anemic (hemoglobin 5.3 and ferritin 3). To make a long story short, it was because acid reflux was causing an occasional small bleed in my stomach. My horrible diet at the time did not let me recover after each bleed so my hemoglobin kept spiraling down.

    BTW raisins are great for bringing up iron levels.

    I agree that you should talk to your doctor to rule out anything other than just a blip
  • thanos5
    thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
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    earlnabby wrote: »

    Do you have acid reflux or GERD?

    i do have GERD. and thanks for the advice everyone, i made an appointment to get lab work on monday. ugh this is discouraging :|
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    thanos5 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »

    Do you have acid reflux or GERD?

    i do have GERD. and thanks for the advice everyone, i made an appointment to get lab work on monday. ugh this is discouraging :|

    I hope it is not the cause but turns out to be "one of those things that happens occasionally". If it is, you can get it taken care of long before I did.

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