Need someone to talk to- anemia & anxiety

[Positivegirl]

Hi, this is my first time doing this, please don’t mind my long paragraph. If you have dealt with something similar pls share your story or if you have advice I would love to here it.

last year one day I randomly started feeling faint and ended up having a miscarriage and lost a lot of blood. Three weeks later I ended up in emergency as I couldn’t feel my body & short of breathe, dizziness etc. was in hospital for a week and had a mri and ecg. Everything was fine my iron was just a little low but they said I was fine. Sumpomts got worse and my doctor said it was anxiety and depression, I didn’t believe it. I went to a naturopath and seen I was severely anemic although it wasn’t showing up in my blood tests. I started taking natural meds and eating healthy and I felt better, it’s been a month and I’m still not feeling 100% and I’m dealing with anxiety which I’ve never had before. Has anyone else had anxiety because of there anemia and they both went away?

I’ve been home bound for the past two months as I don’t feel good enough to go out and I feel bad for my son and partner.

My naturopath, mum and counsellor said the anxiety should go once my anemia’s gone but I’m just a bit worried. I hate feeling like this, I’ve never had anxiety before until I got I’ll.

[CMF]

Hi Positivegirl and welcome,

Firstly, I am so sorry to hear of your miscarriage. I have had anemia for over 20 years although my lat blood test showed my iron levels were upo, and i also have anxiety on and off. I have never heard of anaemia causing anxiety but i have heard that not enough iron can affect us in many ways so can low vitamin D levels. I find it interesting that your naturopath says you are severely anemic yet it is not showing up in blood tests. I would go to another dr for a second opinion as i can't understand how it wouldn't show. Blood tests for anaemia show iron level and iron stores, they are 2 different things. I Personally would go to another dr for a 2nd opinion and have a full blood count done. Check your iron vitamin d, c and maybe even hormone levels. If you've had a miscarriage your hormones could be out of whack and this can cause anxiety. To say your anxiety will go when you anemia is gone sounds a bit aloof to me. There could be many reasons for your anxiety, especially after what you have experienced.

Keep posting here as much as you need. I would be interested to see what another dr says.

All the best

cmf x

[Positivegirl]

Thank you for messaging. The first time I went to a naturopath I was in a very bad state and when she did a blood analysts I had hardly any blood cells on the screen. My blood results were all on the low side when I seen them but the doctor said they’re fine. I’ve been taking natural meds and eating healthy for the past month and feel a lot better. I am going to a new doctor next week so I’ll see what they say

😊

[MsPurple]

Hi Positivegirl

I too have had low iron and anxiety however for me I don't think the low iron caused the anxiety as I have had anxiety since I was a child (note I did have full blown anemia when I had an eating disorder).I think that having low iron or aneamia can cause anxiety to worsen because your heart has to work harder to pump the red blood cells around the body and this increase in heart rate can make you feel more anxious. Now please note I am not an expert but that is me thinking out loud.

I think it is important to treat both of them (as prescribed, discussed with your doctor). Because having low iron makes you feel horrible and anxiety is something you'd want to get a handle on so it doesn't worsen. Now 1 in 4 will experience anxiety or depression in their life. It is common for it to occur after a stressful time (and a miscarriage is a stressful event, I'm sorry to hear about it too). NOw that is not to say 1 in 4 have a long term anxiety/mental illness, it is that that many will experience it at one point in their life.