I was just newly diagnosed with low iron, anemia, or whatever you want to call it. All of my bloodwork came back normal except for low iron/hemoglobin.

My family dr. referred me to a gastrointestinal dr. because they thought I might be bleeding somewhere internally for my iron to be so low (I have no external bleeding)

Today I had both an endoscopy and a colonoscopy done,and the dr. said they both look normal. He took two biopsies just to make sure-I should have those results next week sometime. The gastro. dr. questioned why I'm not on iron pills...I told him that my primary care dr. wanted to find out what's causing my anemia first before they put me on iron pills. The gastro. dr.also said that if my periods are heavy (usually just the first two days, nothing out of the ordinary) that I might want to go on birth control pills.

I'm somewhat confused...I'm sure the gastro.dr. is trying to be helpful in suggesting these things, but are those areas really his area of expertise?

I'm not sure what to do next...should I go back to my primary care dr.(family dr.)? He had mentioned that I might want to follow up with my gyn. dr. to make sure there are no problems there.

I guess the aggravating part is not knowing what is causing my anemia. How do you suddenly become anemic at 44 years of age when you never had any problem before?

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Maybe you should go to your gyn. Be happy that they explored these other options with you and that everything looks good on the inside. For me, they just said "you menstruate and you're anemic, must be related."

Have your periods changed any in the past few years? How about your diet? It seems like you're at the age when things start changing. You may have had a gradual change in your periods that you didn't notice. And your body may need more nutrition now than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When you have the two heavy days of bleeding, how many pads/tampons do you use? If you have to change them every hour or so, that could lead to anemia over time.

It makes sense to look for a cause like internal bleeding. It doesn't make sense not to supplement your iron now. It will take a long time to make more blood. If you are losing blood somewhere, it will be like filling a bucket with a hole in it, but at least you will be pouring some in and not just letting it drip out!

You are right...I probably should go ahead and at least start taking some sort of iron supplement, even though I don't yet know the cause of my anemia. I called the gasto. dr's. office today to get a suggestion of what kind/how much to take, but my dr. is out & so is his nurse...so, I'll call them back on Monday.

I really haven't had any changes lately in my period...it's always been heavy the first two days.

After I get the results from the biopsies, I'll probably call my primary/family dr. to see if he thinks that next I should go see the gyn. dr.

I just don't like not knowing what's causing the anemia!

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Look for iron that also has vitamin C. It absorbs better.

I am 44, too, and was diagnosed with anemia a few months ago by my primary. He referred me to a GI doctor and about a month ago I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies. Both came back fine. The GI did a small bowel series about a week later. That came back fine, too. I sound just like you, my periods haven't changed, first 2 days somewhat heavy and one to two days light. I have been taking iron pills since I was first diagnosed anemic back in May. Not sure if it has helped, I don't go back to primary doctor until November. I guess we'll see what he wants to do after I have some blood work done. Someone suggested the next stop will probably be a hematologist.
Anyway, I just had to reply to your post because our circumstances are pretty much the same. I don't feel any better taking the iron pills, but I'm hoping they are helping. But, I'd sure like to know what's causing it in the first place.

Julie

I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents also...I'm in the same boat as most here - I've had all the GI tests done also (colonoscopy, endoscopy, small bowel, nuclear medicine, capsule endoscopy) and they haven't really found anything either. I was referred to a hematologist who ran his own tests and now gives me IV iron as needed. I also have light monthly cycles so my anemia isn't caused by that either. For now, my primary is just monitoring my hgb and hct, and may at some point have me repeat some of the GI tests. It's frustrating not knowing what's causing this (I'm 27 and have never had this problem before)...but from reading the posts on this board I'm seeing that it's unfortunately more common than I thought....

Me too! Don't want to be left out (well, maybe I DO!!)
I'm 43 and in the same sinking ship as the rest of you. I've been seeing a hematologist for three YEARS now! He still scratches his head every time I'm in his office (which is often.) I've had all the GI tests and the GYN tests--all normal! The blood dude keeps attributing my anemia to an inability to absorb iron but there's no actual pathology to support that. I don't have crohn's or celiac, etc. I've been on a continuous dose of BC pills for the last year to stop my periods altogether. I never thought they were a big deal but as I don't have much iron to begin with I can't afford to lose any. It has helped keep my Hgl scores a bit higher but hasn't helped the Ferritin level. It is nice to know I'm not the only one--even though I don't wish any others ill.