Aa
Its Me Again With Question About Taking Iron
Hi Again!
The doc got the blood test results back and told me i am "dangerously" LOW in iron. The hemoglobin was 9.1 and normal is between 13.5-17.5. The Ferritin was EIGHT and normal says 13-150. The viral load was 2340000. He said viral load seriously high. Bilirubum is normal and liver enzymes only slightly elevated like 42 for all and normal is between 0-35. Hamatokrit is 31.5 and normal is 36-49. Alkal Phospha is normal 79 normal between 60-105.
He told me i also have hypnotyroidism and gave me L-Thyroxin to be taken one tab a day half hour before breakfast with water. Also he gave me iron supplement one tab two hours after breakfast with water ferro sanol duodenal 100 mg just one a day.
He also referred me to a hep specialist but cant get in for 3 weeks.
What disturbs me is that the first doc i saw about 3 plus weeks ago told me i had very mild anemia and gave me those iron supplemts which i was taking 2 tabs a day called Floradix (this is German name as I in Germany) and since i have been taking these iron tabs for 3 weeks and yet when i had that second blood test and it tested according to this second doc that i had "dangerously low" red blood count and the Ferritin i cannot understand why after 3 weeks of taking that iron i would now be so low still in iron.
I said to this new doc that i heard that virtually all hep c patients had too much iron so why did i lack it? He told me that yes...in virtually all cases hep c patients have too much iron but in rare cases they can have a lack of iron. This is all he said. He is not a specialist and since that doc i saw three weeks ago told me with his ultra sound and his blood test that i was in terrific health and his ultra sound showed no signs of an enlarged liver or signs of cirrohsis or scarring and spleen fine and only mild anemia and this all totally conflicts with new doctor i now am fearing to take any iron supplements.
In your opinion for those of you who are as expert and experienced as can be please let me know your opinion if i should be taking this once a day iron supplement taking into account the blood results i have given you in last paragraph.
I am taking the hypnotyroid tab. The doc told me with the combo of hypnothyroidism and anemia and common symptom of great fatigue that so often goes hand in hand with hep c that no wonder i am as weak as a baby kitten but he told me if i take the hypothyroid tab and the iron in about three weeks i should feel less tired and have more energy.
As i said i cannot get into seeing a hep c speicialist for 3 weeks i begged but they busy and wont fit me in.
Please give me some advice especially as to whether if it were you would you take the iron supplement as i dont know where else to turn as no doc can i talk to here or anywhere. Thank you very much.
fluugy
The doc got the blood test results back and told me i am "dangerously" LOW in iron. The hemoglobin was 9.1 and normal is between 13.5-17.5. The Ferritin was EIGHT and normal says 13-150. The viral load was 2340000. He said viral load seriously high. Bilirubum is normal and liver enzymes only slightly elevated like 42 for all and normal is between 0-35. Hamatokrit is 31.5 and normal is 36-49. Alkal Phospha is normal 79 normal between 60-105.
He told me i also have hypnotyroidism and gave me L-Thyroxin to be taken one tab a day half hour before breakfast with water. Also he gave me iron supplement one tab two hours after breakfast with water ferro sanol duodenal 100 mg just one a day.
He also referred me to a hep specialist but cant get in for 3 weeks.
What disturbs me is that the first doc i saw about 3 plus weeks ago told me i had very mild anemia and gave me those iron supplemts which i was taking 2 tabs a day called Floradix (this is German name as I in Germany) and since i have been taking these iron tabs for 3 weeks and yet when i had that second blood test and it tested according to this second doc that i had "dangerously low" red blood count and the Ferritin i cannot understand why after 3 weeks of taking that iron i would now be so low still in iron.
I said to this new doc that i heard that virtually all hep c patients had too much iron so why did i lack it? He told me that yes...in virtually all cases hep c patients have too much iron but in rare cases they can have a lack of iron. This is all he said. He is not a specialist and since that doc i saw three weeks ago told me with his ultra sound and his blood test that i was in terrific health and his ultra sound showed no signs of an enlarged liver or signs of cirrohsis or scarring and spleen fine and only mild anemia and this all totally conflicts with new doctor i now am fearing to take any iron supplements.
In your opinion for those of you who are as expert and experienced as can be please let me know your opinion if i should be taking this once a day iron supplement taking into account the blood results i have given you in last paragraph.
I am taking the hypnotyroid tab. The doc told me with the combo of hypnothyroidism and anemia and common symptom of great fatigue that so often goes hand in hand with hep c that no wonder i am as weak as a baby kitten but he told me if i take the hypothyroid tab and the iron in about three weeks i should feel less tired and have more energy.
As i said i cannot get into seeing a hep c speicialist for 3 weeks i begged but they busy and wont fit me in.
Please give me some advice especially as to whether if it were you would you take the iron supplement as i dont know where else to turn as no doc can i talk to here or anywhere. Thank you very much.
fluugy
___________________________________
Most of all I agree with what your doctor and Hector above said:
Anaemia + Hypothyroid = fatigue, weak and cold all the time.
___________________________________________________
What did the doctor say your TSH is?
As someone who recently had to start taking thyroid medication myself I can attest that Hypothyroidism can make you feel tired and sluggish. You might start to recover some of the lost energy related to it in a week or two.
__________________________________________________
It sounds as if your doctor ran a full iron panel and determined iron supplementation might help you. As in your other related post I agree with those you suggest that you follow your doctor's advise.
Just as an aside I would say since you have recent lab work is that is you do not feel comfortable with the treatment or advise you have been given thus far then you may want to seek a 2nd or 3rd opinion. Plus, when you find a doctor you do like you can ask him (or her) for a referral to a good GI or Hepatologist. That way you will have two doctors who know one another who can work in tandem.
It sounds as if your doctors are listening to you and explaining things in a thorough enough manner. It is never easy to base what you think you should do based on what you read in other forums or elsewhere on the internet. Your medical issues are unique to you.
I hope you feel better as you get regulated on your meds♥♥♥
Most of all I agree with what your doctor and Hector above said:
Anaemia + Hypothyroid = fatigue, weak and cold all the time.
___________________________________________________
What did the doctor say your TSH is?
As someone who recently had to start taking thyroid medication myself I can attest that Hypothyroidism can make you feel tired and sluggish. You might start to recover some of the lost energy related to it in a week or two.
__________________________________________________
It sounds as if your doctor ran a full iron panel and determined iron supplementation might help you. As in your other related post I agree with those you suggest that you follow your doctor's advise.
Just as an aside I would say since you have recent lab work is that is you do not feel comfortable with the treatment or advise you have been given thus far then you may want to seek a 2nd or 3rd opinion. Plus, when you find a doctor you do like you can ask him (or her) for a referral to a good GI or Hepatologist. That way you will have two doctors who know one another who can work in tandem.
It sounds as if your doctors are listening to you and explaining things in a thorough enough manner. It is never easy to base what you think you should do based on what you read in other forums or elsewhere on the internet. Your medical issues are unique to you.
I hope you feel better as you get regulated on your meds♥♥♥
First you have multiple disease. Even for a doctor any patient that has multiple disease it is difficult to determine if there is any relationship among them and to come up with treatment that will work for one disease and not have a negative impact on another disease.
You don't mention what type of doctors these are. To deal with any disease you need to see a specialist in that disease. A person doesn't go to their primary doctor to get treated for cancer right? So we don't know who is advising you and of course we have no idea of your true health status. Only a doctor who sees you and perform the correct tests and knows how to knows to interrupt the results knows is really going on.
("dangerously" LOW in iron") I am afraid that is incorrect. By the way hemoglobin was 9.1... is MILD anemia. Anemia is any level less than 10. So the doctor is correct. Viral load number ("seriously high") is incorrect. There is no seriously high viral load. If you have any viral load you are infected that is all that matters. The number doesn't matter.
This is a hepatitis C forum. That is all we are experienced in. Not anemia which is a result of an underlying disease. Not hypothyroidism which is an endocrine disease. For anemia you should see a Hemotologist. For you hypothyroidism you should see a Endocrinologist. And for hepatitis C your should see a gastroenterologist.
As far as taking the iron pills. From everything you say about your liver's condition taking the iron will not harm your liver. Liver damage unless you ingest poisons takes many decades to develop. 20-40 year. So 3 week of doing anything is not going to harm your liver. I don't know why you even thought it would.
You are wondering why you are tired/fatigued. Hypothyroidism and anemia both have fatigue as one of their most common side effects. Probably nothing to do or little to do with hepatitis C.
If you want the best health care you need to see the appropriate doctors for each of your conditions. They will figure out the best treatments for you.
Good luck.
Hector
You don't mention what type of doctors these are. To deal with any disease you need to see a specialist in that disease. A person doesn't go to their primary doctor to get treated for cancer right? So we don't know who is advising you and of course we have no idea of your true health status. Only a doctor who sees you and perform the correct tests and knows how to knows to interrupt the results knows is really going on.
("dangerously" LOW in iron") I am afraid that is incorrect. By the way hemoglobin was 9.1... is MILD anemia. Anemia is any level less than 10. So the doctor is correct. Viral load number ("seriously high") is incorrect. There is no seriously high viral load. If you have any viral load you are infected that is all that matters. The number doesn't matter.
This is a hepatitis C forum. That is all we are experienced in. Not anemia which is a result of an underlying disease. Not hypothyroidism which is an endocrine disease. For anemia you should see a Hemotologist. For you hypothyroidism you should see a Endocrinologist. And for hepatitis C your should see a gastroenterologist.
As far as taking the iron pills. From everything you say about your liver's condition taking the iron will not harm your liver. Liver damage unless you ingest poisons takes many decades to develop. 20-40 year. So 3 week of doing anything is not going to harm your liver. I don't know why you even thought it would.
You are wondering why you are tired/fatigued. Hypothyroidism and anemia both have fatigue as one of their most common side effects. Probably nothing to do or little to do with hepatitis C.
If you want the best health care you need to see the appropriate doctors for each of your conditions. They will figure out the best treatments for you.
Good luck.
Hector
Three weeks is a short time as far as creating liver damage.
I think Bo gave you good advice. Try eating iron rich food. If you need more ideas of which foods are iron rich, do a google search.
As Jules pointed out, we are simply people, like you, not doctors, whose lives have been touched by hep C.
Stress is never good for anyone's health. Try to relax.
I think Bo gave you good advice. Try eating iron rich food. If you need more ideas of which foods are iron rich, do a google search.
As Jules pointed out, we are simply people, like you, not doctors, whose lives have been touched by hep C.
Stress is never good for anyone's health. Try to relax.
Beets and dandelion greens have tons of iron in them, and are liver friendly.
My advice to you, it to get a biopsy. I guess they dont do them in Europe much, though. I suppose, a FibroScan or FibroSure test will be done.
My HGB is about 9.3 because I am on Hep C Treatment. That is not a "dangerous" level. Below 8, and sometimes a blood transfusion is given~
In my opinion, since you dont have a regular Doctor, and you are in a crisis situation, she should be careful, with the iron. It has been known to ruin livers
My advice to you, it to get a biopsy. I guess they dont do them in Europe much, though. I suppose, a FibroScan or FibroSure test will be done.
My HGB is about 9.3 because I am on Hep C Treatment. That is not a "dangerous" level. Below 8, and sometimes a blood transfusion is given~
In my opinion, since you dont have a regular Doctor, and you are in a crisis situation, she should be careful, with the iron. It has been known to ruin livers
We are not Drs here on this forum. We cannot tell you what or not what to do. We usually comment from our own experiences in dealing with Hep C and what our doctors suggested. I think it would be in your best interest to find a Hep C Dr who can guide you in the right direction. Instead of taking Iron Supplements you may need a transfusion or procrit like crigger stated.
I understand you are anxious and want answers yesterday but we can't give you those so don't bark up the wrong tree. We are here to support you in every way we can.
Have a great day!
Jules
I understand you are anxious and want answers yesterday but we can't give you those so don't bark up the wrong tree. We are here to support you in every way we can.
Have a great day!
Jules
I'm not a Dr. However I can tell you what I do. I take an iron pill everyday along with a multivitamin my blood work is fine and I feel great. That's just me in my case if it's not broke don't fix it. Chill out, members here are only trying to help, nobody wants to see you suffer.
OK thank you but neither of you have answered my question...this doc who is not a hep c specialist gave me iron supplements. I CANNOT see the hep c specialist for THREE weeks from now. All i am please asking should i take the iron supplements or could they harm me. Please respond...i thought this forum would help me that is what one person messaged me and told me but apparently NOT like all the hep c docs i get no help here either
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