Low Iron Levels and Weakness
Hi, I am a caregiver to my wife who has just found out She has severe Low Iron Levels. She initially is getting 2 treatments of IV Iron infusion and im Praying she gets her energy back as she went from walking about 4 miles a day to almost not able to get around the house without feeling very weak. Looking for others who may have gone thru similar situation. No other issues except for the low Iron we're noticed on any Labs and a similar situation happen in March where she was hospitalized and ran every test known and could not find a cause. They at that point did not test Iron that I know of.
Thanks
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@deechase, How much is ‘a healthy amount of B12’, please? Thanks.
@ quimbie
Good morning,
I take iron to increase my Hemoglobin for frequent blood product donations. I’ve never taken vitron-c so don’t know how well it works.
I take an iron only supplement and originally took a vitamin C tablet with it to help absorbsion but it didn’t increase my Hemoglobin because I was eating cereal with milk and the calcium binds to iron and the iron is eliminated. Now I’m using orange juice instead of milk and my Hemoglobin jumped from 11 to nearly 15.
Take care,
Jake
Can low iron levels be attributed to long term treatment of Type 1Diabetes? After 30 years of erratically unsuccessful treatment to maintain glucose levels, now at 72 have very low energy and dizziness/nausea. Doctors (all types) have not been able to help. Janet
Thank you for reply. I am big milk drinker so maybe I need to look at that. So many variables that sometimes not sure which is best. I do the best I can with what I have to work with. Thanks.
Well, I'm not a health care provider, so I can't say for sure, but I found this information WebMD:
https://www.webmd.com/diet/vitamin-b12-deficiency-symptoms-causes#1
I would check with your health care provider to be sure what is right for you.
Hello @jrlynch, Janet, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. As I have a friend who dealt with low levels of iron and anemia, I am familiar with one cause and that is Celiac Disease. It can be diagnosed by having a GI specialist do an endoscopy. Other tests might diagnose gluten sensitivity but do not diagnose Celiac Disease.
Here is some information from Mayo Clinic's website about Celiac Disease, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/celiac-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20352220.
In this article, there is information on what the symptoms are for adults who have Celiac Disease. You might take a look at them. Do doctors think that diabetes treatments are related to low iron levels?
I'm wondering also if you are currently seeing a good endocrinologist or are you just seeing a PCP? If you are not with an endocrinologist now, I would recommend asking for a referral to one.
How do you feel day-to-day Janet?
Lori, thank you for your kind and encouraging words! My family and I are thrilled with my SCR . My MM specialist wants me to continue the Pomalyst for a year, then repeat BMB. He did talk about tweaking the dose later, as a possibility. Right now, I am afraid to rock the boat, and am ok with continuing. I will have labs checked every 2 months, locally. I may decide to see if they can lower the dose later, if my numbers stay down. It was a trade off: Pomalyst 4 mg with NO DEXAMETHASONE! I was happy that my maintenance did not include the Dexamethasone, as I had really bad side effects from 8 months total, of the 40 mg dose ,weekly. My eyesight is worse than ever now, too. Possibly from the steroids. I am a nurse, and have decided that this fact is a blessing and a curse, as a patient. I have been my own advocate, and am so thankful that I have been able to learn so much about MM. My nursing Med- Surg book (from 28 years ago), only had 1 long paragraph about MM. I have been blessed to recieve care at Mayo, as well. I wish all of us with MM could reach SCR, and pray for a cure soon, too! Thank you again for your support!