Stefanie S.
Well-Known Member
I wanted to send some encouragement to anyone out there suffering from low iron / ferritin. My May numbers showed me low in iron and I was told to try 325mg per day. I was retested in July, and instead of improving, my numbers continued to go down. I was referred to a hematologist who could not get me in until October. But I was feeling sooooo tired and I knew I wasn't focusing very well. I begged them to get me in sooner, to no avail. Called a few other hematologists, some of who had a waiting list and were scheduling out a year!
Finally a friend referred me to someone and they asked to see my labs. I got them over right away. Doctor took a look THAT DAY and told his schedulers to get me in ASAP. I went in the next day, and he ordered iron infusions for the following week. I felt validated! He said that I wasn't in dangerous levels, but he had seen bariatric patients like me and the trend would just keep going down no matter how much iron I was taking and I would continue to feel worse and worse. He saw no need to prolong that suffering. I wanted to hug him!!
So, after reading several posts here, I realize that my numbers are a little worse than some, but certainly better than others. No matter! I say, keep at it until you find a hematologist that CARES and understands our unique situation. And at very minimum, you may want to call a hematologist at the first sign of low numbers and not feeling well, because the wait may be long to get in. I'll post my numbers here so you can see exactly what my hematologist thought was worthy of a round of infusions.
Finally a friend referred me to someone and they asked to see my labs. I got them over right away. Doctor took a look THAT DAY and told his schedulers to get me in ASAP. I went in the next day, and he ordered iron infusions for the following week. I felt validated! He said that I wasn't in dangerous levels, but he had seen bariatric patients like me and the trend would just keep going down no matter how much iron I was taking and I would continue to feel worse and worse. He saw no need to prolong that suffering. I wanted to hug him!!
So, after reading several posts here, I realize that my numbers are a little worse than some, but certainly better than others. No matter! I say, keep at it until you find a hematologist that CARES and understands our unique situation. And at very minimum, you may want to call a hematologist at the first sign of low numbers and not feeling well, because the wait may be long to get in. I'll post my numbers here so you can see exactly what my hematologist thought was worthy of a round of infusions.