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I just got out of a week in the hospital due to a heart attack, while there they checked my blood and said my blood count was 8 and should have been 14 they said I must be bleeding somewhere. did endoscopy and found several ulcers and Hyatal hernia. They gave me compacted red cells but it is still low. They also started me on oxygen.
I am not sure if more iron would help me or not.
Hopefully you're on the road to recovery and continued good health.
They probably didn't give you enough packed red cell units to bring your 8 gram hemoglobin to 14 ( that'd be a lot of units), but perhaps to 10-11 grams and they're counting on your building your hemoglobin up yourself over time with those bleeding ulcers fixed and with the proper iron rich nutrition. Did they recommend or prescribe an iron supplement as well?
Chronic blood loss ( such as from bleeding gastric ulcers) generally results in an iron deficiency anemia, the severity of which depends on the amount of blood loss over time. That's because the body is working to replace those lost red cells, and
iron stores in the body just aren't enough to keep up with making enough healthy red cells for a normal hemoglobin or red blood cell count.
So basically yes, in your case of chronic blood loss iron would help to build up your hemoglobin and red cells.
There would have been at least two reasons they gave you oxygen. The major job of red blood cells is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues all over the body, and to carry carbon dioxide from the tissues back to the lungs. With fewer, and iron deficient red cells, this function of red cells would have been at least somewhat compromised. The heart is an essential part of this perfusion ( carrying oxygenated blood to and carboxylated blood from the tissues) through its pumping of blood directly to the lungs, and following a heart attack there could well be some cardiac tissue damage, and some compromise making the heart's pumping less efficient.
What did your doctor say? Is your iron low enough that you need liquid supplements to get the levels up, or is it just barely low and you can just kind of work on a better diet?
And I'm sorry - maybe I missed it - is there a correlation between your low iron levels and falling in the snow?
Low iron can make you anemic... which can cause you to be light headed or even faint.
To the OP: Using a cast iron frying pan might add a little iron to your diet. I'm not sure if it's enough to matter.
Most of us don't eat enough for cast iron pots to have any effect on our iron levels. And even then, only soup manages to pick up any significant amount of iron from the pot. It's better than nothing, but if you're low in iron, cast iron cookware is not your best solution.
Did you realize you can be too low in iron even if your hemoglobin levels are "normal"-ish? I had fatigue due to low iron that didn't show up on a blood test until I sneaked a ferritin level test in. Asked for it, the doctor insulted me for having asked for it, I put it on the sheet ANYWAY after he handed me the lab order, and the doctor was congratulating himself at the next visit for having ordered it (he didn't) because my ferritin level was FIVE when normal is 100!
Talk to your doctor and get a supplement. A daily vitamin will do. The thing about nonmenstruating women not needing as much iron is sorta true, but that just means we rarely need an iron-only supplement. What you get in a daily vitamin will probably be enough. DO have this monitored by your doctor.
Last edited by Pyewackette; 03-01-2019 at 04:20 PM..
I was anemic after giving birth to my second child. That problem went away.
Low in Iron is a problem. To much iron is a problem, I read it can lead to heart attack. So I threw my cast iron pan away about 8 years ago. Besides, it was hard to maintain it properly, oil this and that. Too much work.
Beans and lentils.
Tofu.
Baked potatoes.
Cashews.
Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach.
Fortified breakfast cereals.
Whole-grain and enriched breads.
As an aside, are you by any chance taking statins? They're so bad for you. The side effects are awful, including muscle problems, etc. I'd go off of them, if you're taking them. I did, and I feel so much better.
I don't eat any meat and my iron levels are fine. I eat a lot of beans, spinach, etc., all the other things that have iron. I don't take a supplement, since i don't need to.
As an aside, are you by any chance taking statins? They're so bad for you. The side effects are awful, including muscle problems, etc. I'd go off of them, if you're taking them. I did, and I feel so much better.
How can you make a unilateral statement like "I'd go off of them, if you're taking them" without knowing anything about the OP's health conditions?
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