Leegh Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I've had heavy menstrual flows and was wondering if anemia causes one to be fatiqued every day. My situation is that I wake up feeling good, and feel good throughout the day about five days a week, and about two days a week I wake up feeling exhausted, and am exhausted throughout the day. With anemia would I feel tired every single day, or with anemia could I feel fatiqued some days and not other days? I don't see my doctor until early Dec., but was wondering if anyone has experienced anemia. Thanks for any advice! Link to post Share on other sites
denise_xo Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Yes, I've experienced this and anemia causes fatigue. Do you eat iron supplements? If not, you really should start. When you see your GP, you should also get your blood checked for platelet levels. If you have heavy periods, you might be low on platelets. Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Why can't you see your doc til early Dec? Make an appointment! Link to post Share on other sites
Lucky_One Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Yes, anemia can cause fatigue, but too much iron can cause fatigue as well. Your iron levels do fluctuate daily, depending on blood loss, exercise, iron intake, etc. Ask your doc to run a serum ferritin test, to see how much stored ferritin (the carrier of iron) you have. Iron itself is pretty toxic to the body, so the body makes ferritin to carry it around in a safe form (this is a pretty simplistic definition, btw), so your ferritin levels are "equal" in a sense to your iron levels. You should also have a serum iron test, so that they can calculate your transferrin saturation (how much iron you have floating around in your blood at a given time). You may want to supplement with LOW levels of iron in the meantime, and I would stick with iron rich foods. Red meats, spinach, molasses, prunes, raisins, egg yolks, oysters, liver are all high in iron. Too much iron can be dangerous, so supplementing too heavily is as bad (or worse) than not having enough. Men who donate blood every 58 days lower their risk of a heart attack by about 30%, because they are getting rid of stored iron in their body. This explains why heart disease increases in post-menopausal women, when their bodies don't shed that excess iron on its own. Some stored iron is good, but too much can lead to heart disease. Link to post Share on other sites
Cypress25 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I've been anemic before and yes, it does cause fatigue. Not necessarily every day, as your iron levels fluctuate on a daily basis, which can cause your energy level to fluctuate. Heavy periods can definitely contribute to anemia, but you can compensate for that by trying to get extra iron and folate in your diet. It's better to get it from food than to rely on supplements, just because it's easier for your body to absorb it from food. Iron-rich foods are meat, shellfish, spinach, pineapple, etc. Also, a lot of breads and cereals are fortified with iron. Link to post Share on other sites
whichwayisup Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Buy yourself multivitamins and also some B12. Double up on your vitamin D doses too, see if that helps. Call your Dr and set up an appointment, have a full physical done and some blood work too. Link to post Share on other sites
ON MY OWN Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Buy yourself multivitamins and also some B12. Double up on your vitamin D doses too, see if that helps. Call your Dr and set up an appointment, have a full physical done and some blood work too. Why this vs. Iron supplements? Just curious as I have similar issues and was going to start taking iron. Thank you. Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Whether you need iron or B12 depends on the type of anemia you have. There is no way to know without doing a blood test. Taking B12 by itself will rarely resolve anemia, as even if you are suffering from B12-deficiency anemia, there are underlying issues that must be resolved first. Uncomplicated iron-deficiency anemia can sometimes be resolved by iron supplements alone, but it may help to take both iron and B12. If you have Vit D insufficiency, you'll be seeing other more obvious symptoms, so it really is pointless to dose up on Vit D for anemia. Link to post Share on other sites
whichwayisup Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Why this vs. Iron supplements? Just curious as I have similar issues and was going to start taking iron. Thank you. Iron is harder on your system and you shouldn't take iron supplements without talking to your Dr and having a blood test done to see where your levels are at. Sometimes B12 is all you need. For me, I was lucky that my B12 levels weren' depleated. Once that happens, iron is affected and you (general you) can become quite anemic and feel very sick. Link to post Share on other sites
Lucky_One Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Very true. Too much iron is dangerous, and if you already have too much iron, it can make you feel fatigued as well. So you could be compounding the issue by supplementing with iron. Make a dr appt and get a blood panel done. Link to post Share on other sites
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