In my last post I said about how my ferritin levels were very low, I’m booked in for an iron infusion next Thursday due to the fact I can’t take oral iron. I’ve been feeling extremely unwell this week due to this, breathlessness, chest pains, whooshing ears, fuzzy head, hurting everywhere and absolutely no energy. My extremely heavy menstrual bleeding virtually stopped yesterday so I was hopeful of not feeling any worse than what I was, but the bleeding started again this evening and I’m feeling like I’m at deaths door. I called my doctor this morning to see if they could see me or get my iron infusion moved forward but there were no appointments available and the receptionist said there was no way they could move the appointment forward. So I went to see my local pharmacist for some advice. He told me to go straight to our urgent care unit because I was seeming so poorly but when I got to urgent care they explained that they were extremely busy and there was no doctor working tonight so I wouldn’t be seen for at least 5 hours and even then they wouldn’t be able to do anything until tomorrow. They suggested I call 111 so I called 111 and they’ve just told me that a nurse will call me back within 8 hours or get myself to A&E which is over an hour away from me.
Any advice appreciated, is it dangerous to go this long with such low ferritin and losing a lot of blood? It’s been extremely low for weeks but I’ve been really ill with it for almost 3 weeks now. I’m starting to feel as though I’m just bleeding to death 😭
Written by
mummytosix
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
My ferritin levels were 4.94 (13-150 range) when they were done a week ago. My local hospital is the urgent care with a 5 hour wait but no doctor to treat until tomorrow. I don’t feel able to drive an hour to the nearest A&E but if it’s going to do me serious harm to stay like this I would have to get a taxi and take the children with me.
You've said what your ferritin levels were but you should have had a full iron panel as well so what were those results?
If you feel very unwell, I wouldn't mess about. I'd get a taxi to your A & E dept rather than drive. Is there someone to go with you or look after the kids?
I've just looked back at your blood results related to red blood cells, haemoglobin etc most of which were under range. I'm not a doctor so don't know how critical this is but if it were me I would not want to wait until Thursday to get an infusion.
Thankyou. I’ve just called the a&e and they’ve told me that even if I got there they would have to admit me to give me any treatment and they can’t do that if I’ve got the children with me. They’ve suggested that I go back to my doctor or urgent care tomorrow morning 😕 so I guess I have no choice but to wait. Thanks for replying to me though, I’m here by myself with my two little boys and I’m just worried what will happen if this gets any worse 😕
I'm very sorry you don't have someone to look after your children at present in order for you to get to the A&E. Is it not possible for you to take them with you?
Humanbean has made a sensible suggestion. i.e. call an ambulance.
I’ve not got any iron results, just ferritin, I thought ferritin was iron 😕 I’ve looked through all my recent tests and I haven’t got any iron results. No there’s no one to look after the children, my husbands away at sea and I don’t have anyone else to call so they would have to come with me
Note that many combinations of high, low and healthy levels of ferritin and serum iron can be found in testing. Different combinations of results mean different things.
I wish I could make some sensible suggestions about your bleeding, but I'm afraid I can't. I do empathise though. I felt so ill, with similar symptoms to the ones you describe, that I thought I was going to die when I was suffering from a serious gastro-intestinal bleed. It went on for several years. I lost lots of blood every time I defecated, so it wasn't constant like yours, but towards the end I was losing the blood in very large clots.
I was taking supermarket iron pills in huge numbers towards the end because I felt I had no choice but to try and save my own life. They did keep me alive obviously. I was taking either 6 or 8 iron tablets a day by the end. I didn't know anything about iron at the time, so I didn't realise that 8 of these supermarket tablets contained rather less iron than one prescribed ferrous fumarate tablet. I thought that I was poisoning myself, but I didn't care any more. However, I had no kids to worry about, and my husband was around to help.
If you are very seriously worried (and it definitely sounds like you should be) I would suggest dialling 999 and asking for an ambulance. The emergency services must come across situations like yours quite often - people looking after/caring for kids, but the person doing the looking after becomes ill themselves and has nobody to take care of the kids.
Edit : In the end my problem turned out to be caused by a very large bleeding polyp in my colon.
I had this about 10 years ago my doctor gave me Tranexamic Acid tablets which slowed down the bleeding. I have 5 fibroids and Graves' disease which can give you heavy periods or no periods at all I have suffered with both. I am am 60 now and I didn't have to have my uterus removed because the drugs stopped the bleeding while I went through the menopause.
Hi Mummytosix, I really hope that you get better treatment today and that you get a plan of action to move forward. Please tell your GP about your difficulty with child care; I’m sure they will put you in touch with services who can offer some short term respite support, if you need to be admitted to hospital. Sending you very best wishes.
When you follow up on your bleeding today, in order to talk to a doctor you may have to phone up or visit your surgery and ask to speak to the duty doctor. You won't necessarily see your own doctor, it will just be any doctor at the surgery, or may even be a paramedic or nurse. But I think every surgery has a duty doctor at all times that they are open to deal with emergencies. (I think that is true - apologies if I'm wrong.)
Thankyou all 🙂 I’ve been to see my own doctor this morning and he’s made an urgent referral for me to an endocrinologist, he’s done thorough checks and done my bloods which he will rush them through to get the results by 4pm today but he thinks that I will be admitted tonight for a blood transfusion.
Has anyone had a blood transfusion? If they have can you tell me what to expect and how long I will be in hospital please.
My mother had blood transfusions a few times, and one effect that she got, that was (apparently) quite common, is that her temperature went up quite noticeably. I don't know why it happened or how long it lasted for.
I hope that your GP has given you a prescription for something to prevent the same problem happening again.
I'm very glad you're getting help now. I've never had a blood transfusion but I've donated blood in the past. I expect the transfusion time depends on how many litres you need. I don't imagine it will be too long. Hope you're feeling more reassured now you have some action.
There's a thyroid doctor that runs the forefronthealth website and talks about hormone balance and use of progesterone. I used it for heavy bleeding, I buy Ona's progesterone cream online. Not a quick fix for your predicament now but something you could research re your heavy bleeding and possibly prevent this occuring in the future.
I’m not sure what my Hemoglobin level is but the doctor said that if my levels are as low as he thinks they are then I will need a blood transfusion not an iron infusion 😕
I was in your situation too. I had an iron infusion and it lasted about 6 months. It never really helped with my symptoms because ferritin is a storage iron level. How is your iron level
My Hemoglobin levels were 106 (range 120-160) in the last tests I had done in September. My latest ones aren’t available yet 😕 but my ferritin on my tests a week ago were 4.94 (range 13-150)
Nothing to update, my results weren’t back by the time the doctors shut so my gp has left it in the hands of the emergency doctor who has to call me as soon as my results arrive. I’m under strict orders to call 111 if I feel in the slightest worse and they will admit me.
How is your actual iron level? I had low ferritin once and I had an iron infusion done. It gave me a bad headache afterwards. I didn’t feel any differently after the treatment. It caused my ferritin level to be 900 for 3 years afterwards. You have to be really careful with too much iron because it can cause heart failure and a lot of problems.
This happened to me some years ago. My periods were always very heavy and then on one occasion they started and did not stop, after three weeks my ferritin levels was at 5.5. I couldn't even climb the stairs without sitting down at the top. My GP instructed me not to drive but to get myself taken to the local hospital that he would contact them and I was to be admitted. I was given blood transfusions over the next two nights. This is a temporary fix. I felt fine for a while but was not - as I needed to be - put on to iron tablets to build up my iron levels. (NB which takes 6 months - 1 year). It took years, due to incompetence and bad advice, and being assertive with GPs before my iron levels were restored to around 70. But, I also have hypothyroidism and this was not being properly treated.
Update; the doctor has just called and told me that my haemaglobin levels are 77 ( range 115-165) apparently that means they aren’t critical so I can wait until Thursday for my iron infusion.
Wow, wow, wow! No wonder you are so breathless and feel so terrible.
You should try and get as much help from others as possible - I hope you have helpful neighbours, friends and relatives, and that your children are old enough to do something useful. Don't push yourself to do anything other than the absolutely unavoidable essentials. Go up and downstairs on your bum, taking half an hour over it if necessary. Don't stand when you can sit, and don't sit when you can lie down. Don't walk anywhere if you can drive or take the bus.
I would guess that your heart is going like the clappers. You need to put as little strain on heart and lungs as possible.
Has anyone suggested doing anything to actually stop the bleeding? Because getting a blood transfusion without stopping the bleeding would be pointless.
Yes I do feel awful, I can’t do anything without being breathless and my heart races like mad. This has been an awful time to be ill, my husbands absolutely no help whatsoever, he’s a fisherman and in true fisherman style he’s decided that the pub is more important than helping me with the kids, he popped to the shop at half 9 this morning, switched his phone off and I haven’t seen him since but he checked in on Facebook as being at the pub 😫My little ones are 7 and 5 and this week my older children are all away. My daughters in Birmingham and my 16 year old son has gone to visit my eldest son in Southampton. So I’ve got absolutely nobody to call on this week at all 😢
The kids have been quite good about it, sitting with me and playing board games but I’m just so exhausted and desperate for sleep.
All my gp has suggested for the bleeding is a Mirena coil but I’m reluctant because I had one years ago and I had virtually a year of heavier bleeding, I think if the bleeding I’ve been having got any heavier that I’d actually bleed to death. Other than that no other suggestions have been made.
I found this article that may suggest something to you, but like so much advice for women regarding gynaecological problems it has some absolute howlers in it, and destroying or removing the female reproductive organs is high on the list as usual.
I always wonder how men would feel if removing their testicles was standard medical practice for, say, erectile dysfunction. I read something very recently that went something like this :
"There is no testicle, however badly damaged, that isn't worth saving. There is no ovary that is worth the bother."
The above was allegedly a saying amongst surgeons. I wish I could remember where I read it.
One of the things I thought was a howler - it mentions drinking water to help improve your blood volume. In most people drinking water just makes them go for a pee within 20 minutes. I doubt it boosts blood volume at all, and if it does it would only be for a few minutes.
I would agree that taking vitamin C is helpful, and so is taking iron supplements if your iron-related results are poor. Unfortunately, improving iron levels can take a long time with just supplements. When I lost loads of blood as a result of a bleeding polyp in my colon it took me 21 months of maximum dose supplementation (after the polyp was found and removed) to get my ferritin level up to optimal. I was never given a transfusion or an iron infusion. I had to supply my own iron supplements after the first two months and I also paid for my own blood tests. But at least I could tell that I was starting to feel human again. I still have to take iron supplements but I only take one high-dose pill four days a week, and I still check my levels fairly regularly.
You will need to eat foods high in iron. You can find those listed in this website :
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Ferritin levels 
Ferritin Levels
Advice on bloods results and ferritin levels
ferritin levels before starting T3
Ferritin Levels - Any guidelines to show GP?
