Iron Depletion in Blood related to COVID?

Hi. How are you feeling? My husband has the exact same symptoms, 4 specialists (oncologist, lung surgeon, cardiologist, gastroenterologist) and no answers as to cause. We’ve been told “we are intrigued.” We are trying to find out if this will improve on its own. Two infusions are not helping. No problems prior to vaccines. I will be sharing this forum with all of the doctors. It’s amazing my husband is replicated in page after page in this forum.

Hi all,

It has been 16-17 months since my JnJ shot and my hemoglobin and iron have been back to my baseline since Jun'22 (I had the shot May'21); so it was pretty much 12-13 months to get back to my baseline. My ferritin is still a little low but not 3, much closer to normal. My vitamin D is in the 50s.

I did not do iron infusions or blood transfusions although they were recommended; I also did not do endoscopy/various GI searches as there was no blood in my stool. The short answer is that no specialist could give me a reason for my response and tried very hard to find anything to explain it - including menstruation, potentially bone cancer symptoms (as my white tissues were showing oxygen was extracted by my body, which was happening because my hemoglobin / oxygen transfer was so low).

What I ended up doing was take iron pills & vitamin d pills prescribed by my general practicioner. The specialists scoffed at it and said the doses were too low, and really encouraged larger doses + IV Drips / infusions. I decided to wait a bit -- and allied with Yellow Dock Tincture; once I day I took a dropperful in a little bit of water while eating segmented orange (or tangerine, or something citrus) that was drizzled with black-strap molasses (1 Tablespoon is 20% of daily iron) and sprinkled with coconut flakes and/or pistachios nuts. I ate this daily for months around 3pm in the afternoon as a snack. I also focused on a lot of cooked vegetables + amped up my diet with nuts and seeds; which I craved (I've never been a granola head); and also would eat liver cooked as pate every few weeks with a gluten free cracker. I could not drink coffee - my body had a sudden aversion to it (fixed now!) and although I've always, always loved grilled meat could not eat hamburger or grilled chicken. Oddly my protein was REALLY high in my blood at the time, so I wonder if my body had a natural knowledge to crave the Vitamin E in the seeds/nuts and those fats instead of fast-cooked animal proteins. I did eat long cooked proteins fine, and liver pate or any organ was easy .

So although my recovery was slower, and I times I really wanted the infusion ....the quick win of energy from the iron, I opted with the longer route. My rational was that my body is already responding to something unknown, perhaps intervention measures that are so extreme will also have a negative response (or not the desired outcome). Yes, my work suffered, I simply was not the shining star at the workplace with lots of half days and not the eager-beaver I usually am, but simply could not perform at that rate.

My hematologist and nutritionist (at a NYU Langone) were very impressed that each time meeting me my numbers continued to improve. Even between my GP and the first visit tiny improvements, by the 2nd and 3rd my trajectory to improvement was clear....while numbers still very low there was little risk of being stagnant or going backward. They even said, "Whatever you are doing, keep doing it" and after October they said, you don't need a haemotologist - you can continue to improve with the supervision of your primary doctor and explore with the GI doctor.

I'm still fatigued sometimes and suspect that there is still inflammation. I started acupuncture a month ago and have noticed improvements in my blood circulation and overall energy. I'm glad that I went this route.

I will also share that I am 105 pounds and 4'10 (nearly 4'11). While I was anemic from the shot my body weight went down to 90 pounds. I am now back to my previous wait although now not as muscle-it's just weight. I would like to continue to improve my health in the next year by focusing on reducing inflammation and building strength and endurance. I require a lot of time to relax now, and am still very angry about my body's response to the shot and that very few people are willing to provide the support. I am also angry that the medical community is not more transparent as I suspect many healthy people (such as myself) came with questions and we were deflected. I have no history of anemia - zero. not even fringe. and the symptoms were literally overnight after the shot.

I also had the Moderna and developed low iron after booster and also had to have iron infusions. My hematologist told me not to take the new Bivarent vaccine. I had an antibody test to see if I still have antibodies from the last booster and it came back that I did.

I would urge anyone who hasn't already done so to report their adverse reaction symptoms to the appropriate Government dept. In the UK it is the Yellow Card Reporting System.

On today's news we were told by the blood donor centres that blood stocks are critically low. Is this because would-be donors are being turned away due to their decreased iron levels, I wonder ?

I was a frequent O- donor until I was rejected multiple times for low iron. That started the long process with my hematologist to get my iron levels back to normal. All happened after my second Pfizer shot. No more for me.

My husband and I had the two shots in the Pfizer primary series at the beginning of 2021 and the booster in September of that year. We had an additional booster on June 2 of this year, but decided to get the Moderna version. On July 17, after seeing double and feeling weak, my husband was admitted to the ED with possible TIA. At that time his iron was 58, down from 95 in January. He was released on July 20th with no confirmation of TIA. On August 31 he saw his hematologist who ordered iron infusion because his iron had decreased to 39. He had the infusion on Sept 9th. On Sept 22nd developed Afib with HR at 158, likely caused by low iron. Back to ED where he was stabilized and eventually diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and given immunoglobulin infusions because his blood was hemolyzing - red blood cells breaking down. He's 91 and this was viewed as a safe therapy. He's now home, hemoglobin increasing, feels very good and we'll see the hematologist Oct 21st where I get to ask him what he thinks about the vaccine-low iron connection! Doctors have lots of patients, but I only have one and I'm always prowling around, trying to solve medical mysteries. BTW, after answering my husband's recent V-Safe check-in with negative information I have had a call from the Vaccine Management people but have not yet called back, but fully intend to. Sorry if TMI but I'm so happy to find this discussion!

I have but I don't think it will make any difference...

I had my adverse reaction in April, 2021 after my March J&J vaccination . I saw no other low iron reports in the CDC adverse reaction reports. I checked the UK and found such reports. I then reported to our tracking system