Spiced up my Saturday by fainting 3x in 30 min (while seated) following a blood test and got the ambulance to the local hospital. Same paramedic as my ambo trip in March so he was pretty concerned.
It turns out I’ve tanked my ferritin (55 in august down to 26 today) so I’ve now been discharged to chase up an infusion with the GP. Who, I’d like to add, did not believe me when I said I thought my iron was dropping.
I would have thought they would have given you a transfusion there and then whilst at the hospital ! You were very lucky to get the same paramedic, lets hope your Gp put's urgent and gets you sorted ASAP.
Take care.
I asked for the infusion but they don’t do them in emergency and because I wasn’t admitted, they’ve passed the buck to my GP 🙄
Thank you, I’m sick of being sick but hopefully the infusion helps
I know that feeling very well, sick of being sick and sick to death of being stuck on numerous waiting lists to be seen. 🤬
I hope you get the infusion this side of Christmas. 🙏
Hi PP
How scary for you and yours!
Thankfully you know the cause and hopefully you can get that infusion ASAP.
🤶🤶🤶
Thanks! Definitely wasn’t on my to-do list for today but at least I had good doctors this time.
Hello,
hows it goin, I was going to ask how much iron do you take per day. I think I am going to up my dosage, 5 mg per day is what I take and I don't think its enough.
Goodness .Shows how different bodies react .
My daughters ferritin dropped below 9 .
No faints .
Her cause of fit like collapses rather than faints was big changes in B.p.
Sitting or standing.
Turned out was POTS .
Not low iron as could be okay at low levels as caused more breathless and heart palpitations.
Really suprised no treatment at all in A and E for you.
My daughter used to have at least 2 saline bags put through before discharged to G.p.
Before cause was found.
Do hope the actual fall didn't cause injury.
Hope more testing is done for you.
Horrid.
TC
Yeah I did ask if they would just do the infusion there and then but I think they were keen to move bodies out of ED and pass them back to GP’s if possible 🙄
Not even fluids!
I’d felt shaky and off this morning but just thought it was the busy week so went to get the blood test done. I’m glad I asked to lay down for it otherwise probably would’ve face planted from the chair. All 3 loss of consciousness (though I only remember 2) were while seated on the bed so no injuries. The nurse was helpful.
I’ve had lower ferritin results before, I think 7 was the lowest so 26 isn’t too shocking but it’s definitely been going down steadily.
That is a seriously low ferritin number which means you are seriously iron depleted. Would suggest you take elemental/haem iron rather than wait for medics. Import Three Arrows from USA.
26 (present) or the previous 7?
I hope I’ll see the GP tomorrow and push for an infusion to kick start things and then I’ll look into heme iron.
I know the gastroenterologist had said in his report after my scopes that if my iron dropped again, he wanted me to do a capsule swallow (the camera pill?) so I’ll chase that up too.
Hey PP,
I was in a similar situation as you and understand your frustration with GP’s.
You must get your iron infusion asap! You should ring your GP clinic, request an electronic script from your doctor and ask if their clinic does the IV in house. Then order through a local pharmacy, this is extremely important to do sooner rather than later.
Because you are in Australia, I can recommend you a website that has a beef spleen extract with natural heme iron which is exactly what the three arrows heme iron is.
As I’ve ordered this before and it is in the US, there was a 3-4 week shipping period, this was way too long for me.
It’s an Australian made and owned company called-NXGenwholefoods.com.au. Check out all their website for many good quality products that are beneficial to overall health. Their shipping usually takes 3-5 days.
With this natural beef spleen product, I have managed to get my ferritin levels back to a normal range.
I hope you feel much better soon.🩷
I know of someone who was always in the single digits. PICA as a child, knows that now. Nothing worked for her, it always kept dropping back. This worked for her, it is a Costa Rican staple. - carao juice, called that but is like a syrup. It is not iron but a blood builder. Note it smells quite different.
They sell on Amazon in the US as well. It is a lot of money to get it to Canada so I can only imagine the UK. But it 💯 works. And an absolute life changer for many. And zero constipation. I would take it, just to taste it and not even give it a thought. And would be doing my workout like Wonder Woman, and think huh? And then went, Oh I took some of that carao juice. Every single time I would realize.
All the best to you.
As if life isn't challenging enough! Hopefully they will fast track your infusion. At least this way you can imply to your GP " I told you so!" , if you don't think you can say it outright. Take care & feel better soon.
Oh my goodness, perhaps he will listen now? But more importantly, hope you get that infusion asap and feel much better very soon.
That must have been scary I'm sorry that happened. It just amazes me that our doctors cannot understand that certain things happen to people like us and that they should constantly be up on those particular things. It's not hard to test our iron and our D3 and our potassium. Also they know that other autoimmune conditions often follow all of this. It shouldn't be a surprise to them when something like this happens. I don't understand their dismissiveness. Why do we always have to be our own doctors? I hope you feel better soon. Glad you were seated when you passed out. You could have hit your head.
Im sorry to hear this, its sad you can't even get medical attention when you ask. so what were your symptoms? last I tried to get a ferratin test my Dr said I can go to a hemotologist. but why can't she just let me do it.
I think passing out was a major clue 🤔 but dizziness, muscle weakness, slightly breathless. And my B12 injections weren’t lasting as long or weren’t as effective <— this one was the one that made me concerned.
Update: I saw a different doctor in the same practice and she was actually very good. She ordered the iron infusion asap once she saw the current ferritin level, and even more so the drop from July’s level (55) to December’s (21).
She’s also referred me back to Gastroenterology for a capsule swallow to look at the small bowel.
I did briefly bring up the B12 and neurology etc but she wasn’t that interested (which was good, because I was dreading a fight about my injection frequency).
She’s also insisted on me treating the Vit D levels too, so seems very “whole body” focused.
Hi PP
That’s great great great news! Hang on to that GP she sounds a rare good egg!
I hope you feel better soon and that you can get your B12 effectiveness back in track.
🤶🤶🤶
Thanks, I’m going to be chasing down that infusion (apparently sometimes the hospital will refuse them) so I’ll set up multiple options and go for the first available one.
Multiple dizzy spells today so I’m sick of it already.
Hi PP
Fingers crossed. Seems beyond the realms of madness to refuse you so let’s hope common sense and good clinical practice prevail.
Thinking of you.
🤶🤶🤶
Yes, well we all know that medical staff do seem to venture into the realms of Alice and the Mad Hatter.
I’ll keep pushing. Thanks for the support, it means a lot!
update: infusion happened today, anxiety is a beast - I’ll probably spend the next little while second guessing my body and what it is doing.
My B12 is due tonight, should I do it still? 🤔
Interesting development... RE: B12 injections
Just had the worst week of my life!
Is this my pernicious anemia declining?
Concern about my B12 levels
An interesting day today
