I've been diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia. Does anyone know what, if any, long term effects (or harm there may be) there are from iron-deficiency anemia, if I can't seem to get rid of it? I'm just curious.

I've been taking iron supplements for over a month and bc pills, haven't gone yet for new blood workups.

I haven't had any symptoms, except for being a little tired, and I'm not sure if that's from the anemia or something else.

I've been diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia. Does anyone know what, if any, long term effects (or harm there may be) there are from iron-deficiency anemia, if I can't seem to get rid of it? I'm just curious.

I've been taking iron supplements for over a month and bc pills, haven't gone yet for new blood workups.

I haven't had any symptoms, except for being a little tired, and I'm not sure if that's from the anemia or something else.
Hi there. There are effects that come from having anemia for a long time, but I guess it would be better to call them complications. Anemia can result in all those symptoms like fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness etc. etc. Because you have less oxygen in your blood if you're anemic, this chronic hypoxia ends up putting more of a workload on your heart 'cause it has to do more work by pumping extra blood around the body. This, in severe cases, can result in a heart attack or congestive heart failure.

Usually not. Depends on how low your levels have been and for how long. I've been "iron defecient" forever! It's the resulting anemia that causes the problems. Again, it depends on the severity and duration. You can be iron deficient without being anemic. I'm ALWAYS iron deficient but I'm not always anemic. I'm currently both but it's not "bad" so I'm just a bit tired. When it's bad I get "head rush" a lot and I have a really hard time concentrating on anything. My skin will get really dry and split despite the slathering of gobs of lotion. It's also pretty tough to finish a decent workout in the gym! I'm given IV iron to correct the levels then. For me it's more of an inconvienance than a true health hazzard.