"borderline" anemic?

[Haddock_Entrap_Propulasion]

So, I got my hematocrit on Tuesday: 33%.  The nurse I talked to said that that meant I was "borderline anemic", and that different doctors do it differently in terms of whether that is low enough to warrant iron supplementation.  She said that if I needed the iron, the prescription would be called in by "tomorrow" (now yesterday) morning.  I hard nothing from either her or my OB yesterday, and when I stopped by the hospital pharmacy, the prescription hadn't been called in.  Today, I got a call from hr (my OB), who had apparently only just gotten th message, and she told me (more often than was remotely necessary for a 10 minute conversation with the content of a 4 minute one), that I didn't need iron supplements, and should just try to get more iron rich foods.  Now, that's great and everything in theory, but in the real world, I can't afford to add a bunch of leafy green things and red meat to my diet, least of all the kind that have few enough chemicals to still be recognizable as food.  My OB knows this already, and I reminded her again today...she said something about iron fortified cereals, which would have caused me to laugh if it wasn't so frustrating.  Most cereal needs milk in order to be edible, and even if it didn't, I doubt it would survive in my bag long enough to be eaten late enough not to compete for absorption with the calcium in my cocoa (which is a must have, as it's sometimes the only calcium I remember to get in a given day).  
So yeah...I don't know...has anyone here been put on iron supplements with a hematocrit near mine?  Or emphatically told that you -don't- need them, but to focus on getting lots of iron?  I'm debating just dipping onto my savings to buy iron supplements myself, but obviously that's not the best case scenario.  

[colorado_g]

yes you definitly need milk right know other wise baby will take calcium out of your bones.

[Diabolicafemmia]

have you applied for WIC? if you have problems affording cereal and milk, Im pretty sure they are covered through the program. (as well as cheese and other basics...)

[jenkaye21]

Mine is "border-line", too, but I don't know the levels.  

You can buy iron suplements over the counter, I think a whole bottle is around $5 or less.  I only took them ONCE, though, and got so sick within 20 minutes that I decided they were not worth the trouble.  Taking them with food is (supposed) to help.

[colorado_g]

i had low levels but they said its no need to go on iron supplement. Iron will cause constipation. Eating brocoli , lentil . grean leafs helps