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Anemia symptoms with normal hemoglobin

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mirko52
mirko52

Greetings,

So last summer i donated blood two times in a span of 2 months. A week post 2nd donation i started feelng awful. I went to check my blood count and hematocrit was 50% and hemoglobin 165 g/l.

I dismissed that it was anemia symptoms and went to a cardiologist, then a pulmologist etc,

Every single of those visits ended up in me being told i am fine yet i was feeling horrible.

Then i decided to test for iron in the blood (not ferritin) and it was low. I started supplementing liquid iron and felt better within few weeks.

In november i caught nasty pneumonia which left my lung capacity compromised for months. 3 months later, feeling more or less normal, i went to donate blood because my hematocrit was 52%.

Again, i started feeling awful about a week post donation. Went to check my cbc, hematocrit was 48.5% and hemoglobin 160 g/l. Especially during exercise i would feellike passing out. I felt as if i have some king of battery that gets drained as i workout and then after say 5-6 sets of pushups i feel like passing out, my blood pressure drops to 100/50 and i cant stand up for about half an hour until i start feeling better again.

I also get a headache with anaerobic exercise, which is debilitating for me as i am a long time gym goer.

Also i get strong ringing in my ears in the morning. My lunulae on my fingernails disappeared completely except on my thumbs (they are tiny on my thumbs, 2.5mm in length).

I started liquid iron about 3 weeks ago but only started taking it on empty stomack few days ago and only now noticing i am feeling ever slightly better.

So apparently i have a memory of a goldfish and it is definitely possible to experience anemia symptoms with normal blood count.

I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. How is it possible that we can feel anemia symptoms with normal hemoglobin?

Are the red blood cells somehow different or do they lack enough hemoglobin when your iron stores are low, in essence fooling you with normal cbc results?

This is definitely an interesting topic and more people need to become aware of the fact that you dont always need to have low blood count to experience all kinds of issues.

0 likes, 1 reply

1 Reply

  • jenny19687
    jenny19687 mirko52

    Posted

    Hi Miko,

    i think you have something like iron deficiency anaemia induced potentially by blood donation. It would be good to get your iron tested before donation as well as when you are feeling symptoms. You may be able to gage then how frequent you can give blood or when you may need to supplement with medical supervision. It might also be that a diet of iron rich food may also be beneficial.

    Hope this helps.

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