Anemia of Chronic Disease

[TwoAlaskans]

My recent CBC yielded numbers that suggested I am anemic. My iron levels are normal and my B12 is also normal, albeit in the low range of normal. I was told that I have anemia of chronic disease caused by my thyroid condition (low functioning thyoid, maybe Hashimoto's). Anyone else have experience with this and, if so, what helped you? Thanks!

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

So you're in good company in this group as about everyone is low or deficient in several key vitamins. When hypo we suffer from low stomach acid which means we cant absorb vitamins from our food well, hence the low levels of vitamins. People here supplement to get their levels to OPTIMAL - upper quarter of the range with specific vitamins as opposed to multivits which are not recommended.

Do you have your blood results with the lab ranges?

What were your latest thyroid results and what thyroid hormones are you taking?

Have you had your thyroid antibodies tested for Hashimoto's?

[TwoAlaskans in reply to Jaydee1507]

I suppose it doesn't help that I take omeprazole for GERD. Might have to rethink some of this. Thanks for your info.

[Batty1]

Im constantly dealing with Anemia, Thyroid issues and Psoriatic Arthritis…. Sucks

[TwoAlaskans in reply to Batty1]

Hope you're finding some remedies that help. While I know I can't expect to be like I was at 35, I still try!

[humanbean]

You might find these links of interest :

irondisorders.org/anemia-of...

irondisorders.org/wp-conten...

I think I have Anaemia of Chronic Disease and the things that helped me the most was optimising (as far as possible) my Iron, Ferritin (iron stores), Vitamin D, Folate, Vitamin B12, improving my cortisol, and optimising my thyroid hormones.

In some cases optimising is a long-term goal rather than a destination I can actually reach, because some of my levels fluctuate a lot.

[TwoAlaskans in reply to humanbean]

These articles were very interesting and informative. Thank you so much for providing that information. I think my biggest takeaway was being aware of the importance of not supplementing with iron if not absolutely necessary. I just realized my multivitamin has a low dose of iron in it which surprised me. I've used "over 50" multivitamins recently as I had understood they did not contain iron. Then I switched brands and just realized this one includes iron. I do typically eat a well balanced diet so perhaps I just need to ditch the multivitamin. One less pill to swallow does not sadden me.