Anemia

Hello,

I have recently been feeling shortness of breath, ringing in my ears, slightly fatigued - when I went to a walk in clinic (do not have a family physician, living in a big city so difficult to find one taking new patients), they ran my blood tests and iron came back very low.  The overall outcome was 'great, we know what's wrong, start taking such and such iron tablets twice daily...'

I contacted my previous family doctor (out of town) and quickly asked her opinion.  She said she wouldn't be comfortable with just saying, 'take this medication'.  When iron is low it could be dietary concerns, or it could be something else and that it's worth it to dig a little deeper to ensure there isn't something other than just lack of iron due to food intake going on.

Would anyone reading this agree with this advice?  With low iron, should all causes be explored before stating that you're simply iron deficient and need to take iron supplements?

Thank you!