My bloods showed I was anaemic , I was prescribed ferrous ferritin, I think that's right.
I've now been told I'm not iron anaemic but, chronic disease anaemic???!!
I didn't really say much as my appointment was with a gastroenterologist & he took me by surprise when he suddenly started talking about my RA. He did say that I have enough iron in me but it isn't where it should be??
Can anyone enlighten me please?
Yes it's very common to be anaemic with auto iummue things . . in fact quite normal . It's part of it
It's normal with auto iummue things
Yep, yep me too always anemic. Not by a huge amount usually but always below normal.
Yes it's quite common if you have an inflammatory disease. My non-scientific way of looking at it is as if your body has got big thick mittens on, so can't pick up the teeny, tiny molecules of iron to keep them in your blood stream. So there's iron in you, just not very useful. It's usually pretty mild.
Although people also do get normal anaemia quite often too, where there just aren't any molecules of iron to pick up.
So standard iron treatments may not work so talk to your GP or rheumy about what might be best.
Hiya Jane. When you have a chronic disease like RD (meaning it's a disease that's long term) sometimes the disease itself can make you anaemic rather than another cause. Sounds like you've had a ferritin blood test (testing your levels for a protein that stores iron) & been prescribed ferrous fumarate, is that right?
I think what he may mean about having enough iron but not where it should be is with chronic disease anaemia there's an imbalance of how iron is distributed through the body. Because of this imbalance we can't use the iron effectively to create new blood cells, this is in spite of having sufficient or elevated levels of iron stored in the tissues. This will result in anaemia hence the iron supplement (ferrous fumarate?).
I hope you can make sense of that, it's how I understand chronic disease anaemia anyway!
Thank you for your explanation. I think you say the same as doc I saw, in that I have the iron but it isn't balanced throughout my body. He also said that it wouldn't help me to take anymore iron tablets.
Also for those who know me, due to bronchitis followed by urinary tract infection I've had to temporarily stop my Benepali injections, RA nurse thinks I may have to try another drug?
I feel so bloody ill.
Anaemia and R.Arthritis
He doesn't understand my RA
