low iron in blood test?

Question

My 23 year old daughter has just come back from her third visit to the doctors, her blood test results have shown that she has very low iron, and this is why she is feeling so down at the moment, her doctor wants her to go to have a camera down her throat to see if they can find anything that may be causing this.
Does this sound like anything that anyone else has had?
Would you like to share your thoughts on this with me ?
I am not normally the worrying kind but I must confess to been slightly concerned especially as my daughter has lost so much weight recently and looks so worn out.

Answer 1

My daughter was anaemic - very pale, severe fatigue and losing weight - they thought she might have coeliac disease. The damaged lining in the gut does not absorb nutrients hence weight loss, failure to thrive, anaemia etc. They did a biopsy which can be via mouth or rear end to look at digestive system. They take a minute scraping sample from the tissue to view under microscope. Also they look at damage in gut wall with a camera - endoscopy

It could be to investigate this - treated by strict gluten/wheat free diet.

Or does her diet contain sufficient iron - red meat/broccoli/apricots. You can give liquid or powdered iron which is absorbed more easily for low cases. She needs to eat vitamin c - veg and fruit to aid the absorption of iron.

She needs to ask the doctor about the investigations.

It is natural to worry but at least the Doctor seems to be on the case and will get her back to 100% asap.

Answer 2

It sounds as though the GP is talking about an endoscopy which is a camera that looks down into the stomach. He could be wondering if she has a bleeding stomach ulcer, so is becoming anaemic through that. If her blood test showed VERY low levels, I would have thought he would have suggested a blood transfusion, and some investigations to find out the cause. Did he give her a prescription for iron tablets? Anaemia is a symptom, so something is causing it.

You said she has lost a lot of weight... I was wondering could she have anorexia. I don't mean to be a scare monger and you obviously know your daughter, but just a thought.

Answer 3

Hi, Low iron is quite common. I am aneamic and have to take iron tablets. However, I had the same (ish) (other end) procedure just to check that there was no internal bleeding which could be causing it. As unexplained anaemia with weightloss can be a sign of digestive disorders. My guess is the doctor wants her to have it just to check for any stomach ulcers that may be bleeding or any signs of other explaination for the aneamia. You should try not to worry too much and just be there to hold her hand (if she wants you to) when she has the procedure as it can be a bit daunting going into hospital. They will probably find nothing wrong, I think she is lucky to have a thourough doctor whos checking out all the possibilities. Good luck to you both.

Answer 4

I had anaemia (very low amounts of iron in the blood) and I have to be honest, it wasn't pleasant. I was absolutely exhausted, breathless and dizzy most of the time and blacked out from tiny things like simply standing out (although that could be due to the fact that I also had low blood pressure) The best ways to get iron in the body are to, obviously, eat iron-enriched food such as red meats and spinach and also to take iron tablets, which her doctor should prescribe to her but if not you can get them without prescription from a supermarket. To help the iron diffuse in the blood lots of vitamin C is essential and this can also be found in tablet form although the natural form of it is really the best. Please reassure her that she will be feeling miles better within a few months so long as she takes these steps and best of luck xx

Answer 5

Don't take iron until your doctor tells you. I was low in iron and the specialist got very mad at the very suggestion of taking iron until he ran all his tests. If you take iron too soon, they can't tell if you have autoimmune diseases or low iron stores(chronically low iron), etc. The doctor is doing the right thing by doing a scope to check for an ulcer or gastritis. Once he has done ALL his blood tests, then take iron pills and get your iron up as quickly as possible.

Answer 6

I have had low iron and it's not nice. I felt terrible. Mine was caused by extremely heavy menstruation brought on by rapid weight loss. (Not healthy, I know that now) Some people I know do have problems like that and they have never figured out why. They give them a blood transfusion and they are fine again for a while. In my case, I ended up on Iron pills and Vitamin C, probably forever...it's been 3 years and the doctor is still telling me to take them...

Answer 7

I've had very low iron for most of my life and I've never heard of having to have such a procedure done. Bascially I've been told to alter my diet by eating more iron-rich foods (especially green veggies) and I was put on prescription iron supplements. The procedure you're speaking of sounds foreign to me, but maybe you should do some more research or get a second (professional) opinion before proceeding with what you daughter's doctor has deemed necessary.

Answer 8

I'm going to guess the doctor suspects her low iron is due to bleeding in the upper GI tract so he is doing a scope to look for it, possibly an ulcer. If he finds nothing there I would think he would continue to attempt to identify the reason she is anemic. She needs to follow her doctors advice so that once any bleeding issues are resolved she can get her iron levels back to normal.

Answer 9

My iron has been quite low, turns out that my periods were so heavy that my iron levels were being deleted. However, my periods only got really heavy since having babies. Has your daughter had any pregnancies? My dr put be on birth control pills just to regulate my periods & also iron pills ( i couldn't handle the iron pills so just increased foods high in iron ) I hope its as simple as this - there could be several reasons for anemia. All the best to her

Answer 10

Low iron (anaemia). Symptoms include tiredness and pale compexion to name two. The doctor may be concerned that she has a bleeding ulcer, this would account for both the weight loss and the anaemia. Basically though, it is a process of elimination.