Hi, I have had anemia for as long as I can remember. When I was young the doctor told my mom to feed me red meat. Last year I went to the hospital with kidney stones and I became septic due to a kidney infection also. When they took my blood I was at a 6. They put me into the ICU unit because I was so sick. They gave me 8 pints of blood and I only went up to a 9. They did several MRI's to check my stomach for and bleeding. I was on my period also. They suggested that I have a hsyterectomy to help with my heavy periods. I went up to a 9.9, then 2 weeks ago back down to a 9.5.. I'm a school teacher of 16 pre-k children, which keeps me busy. I'm usually tired and want to take a nap when I get home. My house is a wreck because I'm always to tired to straighten up. I feel like everyone is thinking that I'm lazy. To me I don't know what it feels like to have energy. The doctors say if I can get to a 12 I would feel the difference. I'm on two iron pills in the morning and at night. The doctor wants to send me to a stomach doctor. I have had two scopes done 5 years ago with no luck and no bleeding. I don't want to go through it again. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to keep from going through those test again? Is there something else I can do that I'm not doing now?:confused:

First off, have they done the tests to 100% for sure identify that this is iron deficiency anemia and not some other type. A CBC alone will not always give the answer. You should have a ferritin and B12 and folate to check for other things that cause anemia.

Secondly, did you have both and upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. Many times they will just check the lower intestines and not the stomach. You need both.

The third thing is menstrual bleeding but sounds like you have that covered. You had a hysterectomy?

Lastly, have them check for malabsorption disorders like celiac disease. This is an autoimmune disorder related to wheat gluten. If you have this, it damages the villi in your small intesting making it hard for your to absorb many vitamins and minerals. Iron deficiency is one of the first symptoms of this and taking a supplement will not help until you remove wheat from your diet. They can test for celiac disease with a blood draw and/or during an upper endoscopy if they reach down to the small intestine and do a biopsy.

If all else fails, you may just have a problem absorbing iron or there could be a bone marrow disorder that is making it look like an iron deficiency.

sharks2015--Sorry that you are having such a hard time, anemia is horrible! There are a few things that you can be doing. I would rule out GI bleeding ( a 30 min procedure for upper and lower), fix heavy periods (a procedure), get on the proper amount of iron if not already, and a good multivitamin to help rebuild blood cells with an iron rich diet. Since this has been going on for you so long I would see a Hematologist if you haven't already to be safe.

Your doctor is right when he says that if you can get to a 12 you will feel better. That is when you are no longer anemic:). It does sound like your problem is your periods, but you don't know that for sure until you do current testing. Your last scope was 5 yrs ago and you could have a different situation now.

I'm curious, have you had your Ferritin tested to know what your iron stores are? This takes a long time to replace and fill. I would want to know that number.

I had 7 polyps removed when I had an ablation in June to fix my heavy periods. Since DX'ed, I went from 8.5 to a 13.6 HGB and my symptoms have finally resolved. This didn't happen for me until I had the procedure. I was sick for 9 months. I would encourage you to search all options and fix what you know you can and see if it works for you. Good luck--FLFLOWERGIRL:)

So you had a Hysterectomy? I didn't understand if that is why your HBG went up, if you had it or not.

I would think that if it was an absorption issue that your blood count would be much lower. At least that's going by what the specialist told me. Looks like you got some good answers here. FLFLOWERGIRL:)

There is also a test called a capsule endoscopy that can look at your small intestines. The upper and lower GI tests do not cover this area and although most GI bleeds are found in the lower and upper portion of the GI, there is a small chance that you could be loosing blood from your small intestine. Given your low numbers and number of transfusion this test would be a good idea to have done. I've had it done twice and honestly it's easier than the prep for the colonoscopy. I would talk to your GI doc about it..... it's fairly new but it's now being used in many hospitals throughout the country. Good luck!

Lizzy, Flowergirl and Christine have pretty much covered your situation in their posts and all i can do is agree with them.

You are not going crazy and the low iron is most definitely causing you to feel constant tiredness, no motivation and some people even suffer depression. It is no wonder as living like this day in and day out to year in and year out is very depressing and it stops you from enjoying your life.

You need to ask questions, do research and speak to your doctor and request certain tests if they are not being performed. If your doctor dismisses it as trivial or demeans you in any way, find a new doctor. A lot of us have shopped around extensively until we have found somebody who understands our situation, so do not give up on finding somebody knowledegable and understanding.

You mention heavy periods, did they give you a reason why? is there any other procedure rather than having a hysterectomy? A hysterectomy might sound like a quick fix, but a hysterectomy is not for everybody. Some ladies have felt great afterwards while others have felt worse as they may not have their periods to content with, but they have a whole new series of side effects. This is something you might want to research very well as there is no going back afterwards, especially if you are still reletavely young.

As the others suggested, there might be a chance you have a gluten intolerance. If this is the case, a hysterectomy wont necessarily help your iron istuation.

What sort of iron supplements are you on? Not all iron supplements are the same and if it's an over the counter type you may want to speak to your doctor or your chemist and find out whether it's safe to double or even triple the dosage as some of the over the counter supplements are not of a high enough dosage so your levels take far longer to go up. eg: I was on a liquid form which my doctor advised me to triple until i finished the bottle and then moved onto a supplement which he felt would benefit me more so than the one i was originally taking.

A lot of people on the boards have also found that they are very depleted in B12, Vitamin D, Zinc, they might be bordering hypo or hyperthyroid, poor liver function, in my personal case i have just found out i'm very low in iodine too. This is why it's important to have the right tests and to work out why it's all happening and most definitely think twice before a full hysterectomy too.

I have to agree with you Audrey, after researching the net it seems there is a connection with anemia and hypo and hyper as well as defiency in vitamins. I too was low in vit B12, but when i have hypo hyper test done they tell me im boarderline!!!!