Peri and recently diagnosed with aneania. worried!!!

Hi Michelle, anxiety and worry is all part of peri symptoms, everything regards your bleeding seems quite normal as mine is very similar but I bleed for longer periods. I would say it's just took this long for you too become anaemic so I wouldnt worry about that. Now your doc has given you iron tablets that should help you a lot. Being anaemic affects your mood and stops you getting out and living your life so that should change. If your worried still can your doc arrange a pelvic ultrasound to check everything out. I'm sure everything sounds very normal tho, hugs to you x

I am peri and have also been anaemic on and off over the past year.  I was only on iron tablets for a month before my iron levels were normal again, but then I have a very long period and it goes back down again.  I wouldn't worry, I think it is all part of the peri journey.

I have had terrrible health anxiety with the meno so I understand what you are going through!  I had an unexplained blled after12 months of nothing so I needed a internal scan. I was beside myself with worry!!! However, all was well and nothing found!!  I also thought I was having a heart attack, bowel cancer, in fact every kind of cancer!!!  Being aneamic is normal at this time and I am pretty sure that is all it will be.  Good you are getting things checked though.  Take care.XX

Thank you ladies. Really helps to hear all your views. Xx

You've probably been anemic (or becoming anemic) far longer than the blood tests have indicated.  Plus, it can come and go so maybe when you've had other tests done it's been okay or on the low end.  I became anemic several years ago but felt bad for FAR longer than what the bloodwork says. Then one day, I took all of my lab reports that I had from my 30s into my 40s and I compared the hematocrit counts.  In my 30s, my levels were top-notch soild good numbers.  As the years went by, it slowly decreased, all while being in the normal range.  Then finally it dipped down below normal and that's when my dermatologist, of all people, caught it when he was testing me for lupus.  The iron made me feel better, quickly.  

One thing doctors don't routinely test for that can give you a heads up to this long before you actually become anemic is your "FERRITIN" level.  Ferritin is the amount of iron that your body has stored, and it is a much better predictor of how well your iron status is than some of the other tests.  It will show shortages before you become anemic.  A good ferritin number for a menstruating female is about 50 (althought the normal range is lower).  Mine was about 5 and then I wasn't anemic at that point.  Once that depletes, you go anemic.  My friend, who is 50 and having a period every 3 weeks has not yet hit anemia but she has no ferritin.  Iron supplements are quickly resolving that.  

I certainly understand the health anxiety.  I am having it about my hot flashes.  But anemia is normal in perimenopause.  My mom told me she spent all of her 40s and early 50s being anemic. and it will make you feel awful.  I felt FAR worse with mine than I ever did with my thyroid levels being off. It also made me have a lot of panic/anxiety feelings.

Hi Michelle, I was very aneamic last autumn and put on iron tablets by my GP. The weird thing was my periods had become less frequent and heavy, so she also sent me for a colonoscopy and endoscopy, which I had just after Christmas, so I was panicking like mad about that - basically its to check if you have anything which looks like bowel or stomach cancer.

The tests were all negative.  I had panicked so much I really couldnt cope at all with Christmas and hid upstairs most of the time - all for nothing. 

My stomach also really couldnt tolerate the iron tablets, and gave me awful IBS, which I am prone to anyway.  I have finallly managed to tolerate taking just one a day, instead of the three I was diagnosed - ferrous fumarate, and my iron levels are getting better.  Maybe you werent tested for anaemia before when your periods were heavy.  I think sometimes doctors just think - Oh right - better do this test now, after not doing it for ages.  I dont know, just a theory.

I have also just come through a phase which lasted about 4 months of apalling anxiety which really crippled me, and I could barely leave the house - still am quite agrophobic. Its eased off now - I am so grateful - I'm not totally sure why - but I do find that distracting myself with getting really interested in a particular subject and reading alot helped.   I was also on HRT, which I decided to come off recently, and feel better for it.