I've been anemic off and on for a few years now. My Dr. sent me to a Hematologist to investigate further. Well, he ran some tests and found that I didn't have many immature red blood cells so he wanted to do a bone marrow biopsy to make sure it wasn't something serious. I got the results yesterday and luckily everything was normal except there was NO iron in my bone marrow. He said this test is more sensitive than the blood test. My last blood test had shown my ferritin at 20. Has anyone had this experience? He wants me to start on supplemental iron which I have never managed to stick with for more than a week because it makes me feel crappy. He said if I still have a hard time tolerating it we could do IV iron.

I have been feeling really tired, short of breath, fatigued and muscle aches. I get differing opinions as to whether or not the anemia is causing this. My hemoglobin is 11 so not terribly low, me hemotocrit was low but I cannot remember the number.

I have not had the experience of the Bone Marrow Biopsy. I only know that it is *THE* most reliable test for determining the causes of anemia. Most doctors try to use all other means of testing before resorting to that as I understand that the biopsy is not pleasant.

Did you find the procedure to be awful?

During my last blood work, I had gotten rid of the anemia aspect of things with iron supplementation, but my ferritin was at 5. I don't re-test again until April so I am curious to see how it's going.

It definitely wasn't a pleasant experience but not as terrible as I thought it may be. It wasn't as painful as I expected - in fact, I really did not feel any pain just pressure. The worst part is definitely the anticipation and not knowing what to expect. I guess some Dr's may be more gentle than others as well. My Dr. was very understaning and patient with me.

The reason he wanted to do the biopsy was because my reticulycte (sp?) number was really low. It normally is low with iron deficiency but he said mine seemed extremely low. Also, I've been having a lot of symptoms suggestive of worse things (weight loss, extreme fatigue, etc) so he wanted to rule out anything more serious.

I haven't had a bone marrow biopsy(yet!) but I receive IV iron very week because of low ferritin and iron saturation in my bone marrow. I am also taking the oral iron but they don't think I absorb it well. I do feel ALOT better since getting the IV iron. I had a problem with the iron supplements too. My doctor recommended Fergon(ferrous gluconate) because she says it's easier on the stomach. I found that to be true too.