Hi everyone! About 5-6 months ago I started feeling fatigued all the time, had lots of headaches, and then I started having dizzy spells (mixed with lots of nausea, sore throats, acid reflux, you name it!). Some dizzy spells would last several seconds, some a few minutes, and I had 2 vertigo spells that lasted about 8 hours each. After seeing my family doctor and ENT doctor they diagnosed me with several things but I kept getting worse and worse. I finally saw an Internist about 2 months ago and she ran several more blood tests, urine sample, Hida scan, you name it! The only things she could find were that my ferritin level was at 10 and my cortisol level was slightly elevated.

I've now been on Ferrex 150 now for almost 2 months. I've started to get my energy back and I feel better in that regard, but I still have dizzy spells. They are mostly centered around when I eat or after I eat or if I'm hungry. My blood sugar last tested was normal so I'm assuming that is not what the dizziness is from. I'm 5'4" and weigh 110 lbs. and exercise regularly so I'm assuming it's not my weight either.

I was just wondering if for those of you who have been treated for iron deficiency anemia how long does it take for your ferritin levels to go up to normal? I'm being re-tested in about a week, but I'm worried that the reason I'm having dizzy spells has nothing to do with my iron deficiency and it's something else. I saw my internist a couple days ago and she honestly told me she has no idea what my current dizzy spells could be from. That was a little frusterating! It has changed my life in a huge way now and I don't want to deal with this anymore. I have a hard time concentrating in school and at work, and not to mention I have to take medicine to sleep at night. Have any of you dealt with these same things with anemia?

Sorry about the long post - I would appreciate any insight you can give!!! :)

I have suffered dizzy spells and vertigo but they were not from anemia and/or iron deficiency. My Ferritin is a at 5 (at least in January) but I had not dizziness.

Many years ago, after a sinus infection, I got hit with vertigo or "labrynthitis." My doctor told me that I could possibly have dizzy spells for up to 18 months. Guess what? I sure did.

I know that anemia and iron deficiency can cause anemia, but so can many other things--most commonly, it would be something from your sinuses or inner ear either due to allergies or congestion of some sort. Sometimes just getting older will cause a lifelong condition called Benign Positional Vertigo. This is when the little "crystals" in your inner ear become loose occasionally and will set off dizziness. My co-workers wife has this as well as some other people I know. Not fun. There is no real way to "prove" what causes it though so you just have to rule other things out.

Hi Christine!

You know it's so funny you mention inner ear disorders and BPV. Originally that was what I was diagnosed with. My ENT dr. said the dizzy spells would go away with time and I had an Epley Maneuver completed and everything, but they kept getting worse and I started to feel horrible in other ways. I did have an MRI done also and it showed that I do have sinus problems but they come and go.

It's all just so frusterating because no one knows for sure if the dizziness if from the anemia or from BPV or sinuses or something else. They basically ruled BPV out though because my dizzy spells can happen at any time, there is no rhyme or reason to them and do not occur when I turn my head a certain way. I could just be sitting quietly and they occur. So very frusterating!