Can anaemia diagnosis be missed?
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi. About 8/9 years ago I started taking Ferrous Sulphate 200mg tablets. At the time I was feeling lethargy and run-down. I mentioned my symptoms to my Mother who said she had suffered similar symptoms when she was younger and got diagnosed with anaemia and recommended iron supplements. On the advice of a pharmacist I started taking the ferrous sulphate tablets and my symptoms went away overnight. I felt generally much better, more focused and and not lethargic at all.
Fast forward a year or so, I went to my GP to see if I could get a an actual anaemia diagnosis to get the pills on prescription. I had a blood test and to my surprise the test came back negative for anaemia.
I stopped taking the FS pills a good few years ago and had actually forgotten about them, but again recently have been feeling incredibly lethargic and nothing had been making me feel better. I recently started taking the FS pills again and again an immediate improvement, no lethargy; far more alert; getting a lot more done in the day and feeling much happier.
So my question is, does anyone have a similar experience. Can an anaemia diagnosis be missed in a blood test & should I keep self-medicating if it seems to be working. Am only taking one 200mg pill per day.
Cheers.
0 likes, 2 replies
Laura3333 mmlabbd
Posted
Yes, if you are taking iron tablets when you have the blood test, it can confuse the results, you're better stopping them a week or so beforehand,
Also FS takes approx three months for you to get back to normal levels if your iron is low.
Your folates can also be low, so best to have a blood test for that at the same time.
The normal dosage is three a day, but it depends on your test results.
elizabeth95804 mmlabbd
Posted
Yes!! I had nearly all possible symptoms of anemia when i finally went to the doctor. the whites of my eyes were even turning blue! and this only happens in severe cases of anemia. i had done research prior to going to the doctor and had convinced myself that i was anemic. my doctor agreed saying it was a textbook definition of anemia. 3 days later my doctor called to tell me that i was not anemic. due to my heart issues i seemed to be having, he referred me to a cardiologist. my cardiologist was looking over my labs and had told me that she was surprised i wasnt anemic since the labs indicated that my red blood cells were very small. i went to a different gp and she immediately looked at my labs and said i was defenitly anemic. my previous doctor misread my labs. so yes, your doctor could have read the labs wrong. but they could have also been influenced since you were already taking iron. however, by if you were anemic, taking the iron pills would not have made your symptoms disappear overnight. it takes at least 3-4 weeks for symptoms to start improving. something could be wrong, but im not convinced its iron deficiency anemia. sounds like placebo effect honestly. thyroid problems have a lot of similar symptoms as anemia so maybe talk to your doctor about that?