Anemia

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Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Got my blood work results and it's all good except I'm anemic... again. And that was taking my blood 2 weeks after my period, and after eating beef for 3 days straight.

Sigh. Advice?
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Replies

  • eugenia94102
    eugenia94102 Posts: 126 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Doctor. Anemia caused by diet is easily treated, but anemia is also a symptom of other health conditions that must be eliminated. On the diet front, use a parsley pesto that has some acid in the preparation. Avoid calcium rich foods (and obviously calcium supplements) on the same meal you are trying to get iron.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    eugenia94102 wrote: »
    Doctor. Anemia caused by diet is easily treated, but anemia is also a symptom of other health conditions that must be eliminated. On the diet front, use a parsley pesto that has some acid in the preparation. Avoid calcium rich foods (and obviously calcium supplements) on the same meal you are trying to get iron.

    Yeah I have my follow up in 2 weeks anyway. But when I had anemia before (4 years ago... before I lost the weight), she didn't really give me much in term of advice.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    Supplemental iron with vitamin c is what I take when my iron is low. 1-4 times daily, depending on your numbers. I have iron deficiency anemia due to an autoimmune condition and that is what my doctor recommends when I have a flair. I took it daily for years and years before I got my disease under control.

    You do need to find out what the underlying cause is though. It's not usually a stand alone disease.
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
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    I had anemia through most of 40s due to heavy periods. Now that I am menopausal, no more problems.

    What worked for me was iron supplementation. I used one called Natural Factors Iron Chelate that did not bother me at got the job done.

    You will either need to supplement or do something about your periods. Now if you periods are not heavy, you might have to investigate further, but most likely it is the periods. For me, I couldn't get enough iron through my diet to correct it.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I'm not saying this is the cause for you. But my daughter in law was recently diagnosed as severely anemic, which doesn't surprise me one bit, as she eats NO fruit/veggies and very rarely eats red meat. All in all her diet sucks (and consists of mainly junk food and packaged stuff), and the doctor pretty much told her this. Her's is so bad that she feels she needs to take a nap after doing something simple like hanging the washing out.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Christine_72 wrote: »
    I'm not saying this is the cause for you. But my daughter in law was recently diagnosed as severely anemic, which doesn't surprise me one bit, as she eats NO fruit/veggies and very rarely eats red meat. All in all her diet sucks (and consists of mainly junk food and packaged stuff), and the doctor pretty much told her this. Her's is so bad that she feels she needs to take a nap after doing something simple like hanging the washing out.

    I actually haven't felt tired much at all, and I'm walking 15-25k steps a day too. I eat pretty balanced too :(
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    I'm not saying this is the cause for you. But my daughter in law was recently diagnosed as severely anemic, which doesn't surprise me one bit, as she eats NO fruit/veggies and very rarely eats red meat. All in all her diet sucks (and consists of mainly junk food and packaged stuff), and the doctor pretty much told her this. Her's is so bad that she feels she needs to take a nap after doing something simple like hanging the washing out.

    I actually haven't felt tired much at all, and I'm walking 15-25k steps a day too. I eat pretty balanced too :(

    Well, that's pretty much the complete opposite of her. Have you googled high iron foods? Add a heap of them into your diet daily and see if it helps.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    I'm not saying this is the cause for you. But my daughter in law was recently diagnosed as severely anemic, which doesn't surprise me one bit, as she eats NO fruit/veggies and very rarely eats red meat. All in all her diet sucks (and consists of mainly junk food and packaged stuff), and the doctor pretty much told her this. Her's is so bad that she feels she needs to take a nap after doing something simple like hanging the washing out.

    I actually haven't felt tired much at all, and I'm walking 15-25k steps a day too. I eat pretty balanced too :(

    Well, that's pretty much the complete opposite of her. Have you googled high iron foods? Add a heap of them into your diet daily and see if it helps.

    Yeah I have. I track it on MFP (I'm aware that a lot of people don't enter Iron in their entries, and I don't always double check) but I can't seem to be able to reach 100%, ever. Maybe it's time to eat more chocolate :D
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I just went and checked my iron for the last week, I average around 20%. But hardly any of our food labels list iron, so i really have no idea how much I'm truly getting.
  • josette06
    josette06 Posts: 119 Member
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    What was your hemoglobin? I went from a 13.6 to a 10.5 in less than 2 months and it took me another 2 months to get to 12.5. I'm not the biggest meat eater though and I hate spinach. Unfortunately supplements hurt my stomach.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
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    Try drinking orange juice or something high in vitamin c when you eat high iron foods as it helps with absorption.
    I became severely anaemic due to a chronic health condition which caused internal bleeding. Couldn't tolerate supplements as they destroyed my gut. I managed to get my levels back to normal by eating liver (yuk -hate the stuff),steak and other foods high in iron.
    As I think someone else has already said, you may need to get your ferritin and b12 levels checked as well.
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    I gave up trying to control my anemia with food or supplements. I seem to have some malabsorption issues (doctor's rather dry comment when I presented my food logs. I LOVE red meat) and the supplements just make me throw up. So now I just go in roughly every 6 months for a blood test and an infusion. I can usually tell it's time to go when the stairs up to my office seem an insurmountable obstacle (that's one floor to go up...)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    josette06 wrote: »
    What was your hemoglobin? I went from a 13.6 to a 10.5 in less than 2 months and it took me another 2 months to get to 12.5. I'm not the biggest meat eater though and I hate spinach. Unfortunately supplements hurt my stomach.

    I have no idea, going to have to ask the doctor. I get issues with supplements and vitamins sometimes too (I was that woman who threw up her prenatal vitamins every time). Same for ferritin and b12.
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    I gave up trying to control my anemia with food or supplements. I seem to have some malabsorption issues (doctor's rather dry comment when I presented my food logs. I LOVE red meat) and the supplements just make me throw up. So now I just go in roughly every 6 months for a blood test and an infusion. I can usually tell it's time to go when the stairs up to my office seem an insurmountable obstacle (that's one floor to go up...)

    That's the thing though, I've been generally completely fine. I have plenty of energy, I walk a lot... Yeah, once in a while I'm really tired and don't feel like doing anything, but it doesn't happen much...
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    That is really odd. Everyone I know who suffers from anemia (that's about 4 of us if you want the statistical sample) report the over the top exhaustion.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    That is really odd. Everyone I know who suffers from anemia (that's about 4 of us if you want the statistical sample) report the over the top exhaustion.

    I was that way before I lost the weight too, but I also had really heavy periods.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    crazyravr wrote: »
    My ex-wife was anemic. I introduced her to eating chicken livers and hearts couple times a week. Healthy, delish and nutritious. Try that once a week or so.

    I actually like liver (I've only tried veal though and that was 25 years ago), just can't find it anywhere. And wouldn't know how to cook it, lol.
  • AngryViking1970
    AngryViking1970 Posts: 2,847 Member
    edited January 2017
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    I was actually hospitalized over Thanksgiving due to severe anemia. I was feeling weak and tired for a couple of weeks, but dismissed it because that's what I do. LOL By the time my husband insisted I go to the ED, I was so anemic that I was wheezing and it was affecting my heart. My hemo level was a 4 and normal is 12-16. I had 4 blood transfusions while I was inpatient. Every doctor I saw was like "you dodged a bullet". I take crazy iron supplements now but I'm still not at a normal level (last blood draw had me at 9.2). Anemia is no joke, man. Ferro-sequels are my new best friend.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    AngryViking1970 wrote: »
    I was actually hospitalized over Thanksgiving due to severe anemia. I was feeling weak and tired for a couple of weeks, but dismissed it because that's what I do. LOL By the time my husband insisted I go to the ED, I was so anemic that I was wheezing and it was affecting my heart. My hemo level was a 4 and normal is 12-16. I had 4 blood transfusions while I was inpatient. Every doctor I saw was like "you dodged a bullet". I take crazy iron supplements now but I'm still not at a normal level (last blood draw had me at 9.2). Anemia is no joke, man. Ferro-sequels are my new best friend.

    I can relate. My serum iron was undetectable for almost a year and my normal hemoglobin level was 8 but it dropped to 6 on many occasions. I was getting regular iron infusions at the time. I had quite a few blood transfusions as well but it didn't get up to 100 until my Crohn's was stabilized. Definitely no fun!
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
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    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    That is really odd. Everyone I know who suffers from anemia (that's about 4 of us if you want the statistical sample) report the over the top exhaustion.

    At my worst I could barely walk upstairs without having to stop and get my breath back! It's what sent me to the doctor- I honestly thought I had a heart problem!
  • corinatolamaa
    corinatolamaa Posts: 3 Member
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    Did the doctor tell you it was iron deficiency anemia? Anemia could also be related to deficiency of vitamin B12.

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