I, like a great deal of women, have iron-deficiency anemia.
I am also a forgetful ass and very rarely actually take my iron supplements.
In addition to that, I also have sleep problems. I often wake up several times a night, and always feel tired, even after 8 full hours of sleep. And, when I do manage to drag myself out of bed in the morning (well…afternoon), I get rather mild but really irritating headaches.
As if that weren’t annoying enough, I tend to get even worse headaches when looking down for even short periods of time - for example, doing math problems on a desk for 20 minutes in my class.
I also have slightly low blood pressure sometimes, which I imagine is due to the low RBC count.
I suspect that all of these things may be connected, but I really don’t know what I’m talking about.
So I turn to you, the dopers. Could these things be symptoms of anemia, normal things that everyone experiences but that I am too whiny about, or should I haul my butt to the doctor’s office to get checked out for something else?
The weird thing is that my sleep problems resemble sleep apnea, but seeing as how I am a teenaged female, and I don’t think I snore, that doesn’t seem too likely.
Mmmm. One great blessing of being on the Pill is it reduces the iron loss due to periods (as well as reducing the associated cramps and dragged-down-ness). But you’d have to remember to take the Pill.
Possible approach: set up the iron supplements in your life so they are a part of your routine; and make an appointment with your doc. Three weeks go by, appointment is tomorrow, have all your symptoms cleared? If no, go to doc. If yes, go to cancel appointment.
I was thinking about doing exactly what you said, but I thought I remembered reading that it takes several months for it to actually kick in, and this does sometimes come in phases.
And there’s definately no way I’ll ever be able to remember to take a pill every day. I had a hard enough time remembering whether or not I’ve already taken a shower each day.
Could you have sinus troubles? That looking down thing might be from pressure in your sinuses. If you are having headaches every day, you need to see someone. Might as well start with ear,nose, and throat doc.
Also, for god’s sake get one of those old lady day-by-day pill cases. They look like this - pill organizer
Some of it could be sleep apnea. Don’t assume you don’t snore just 'cos you’re a teenage girl. I’ve snored at least since I was 14, (female, close to the low end of “normal weight”…well, I was then anyway) and the only reason I know anything about it is that everyone who’s ever shared a room with me has told me ALL about it.
However, a lot of the stuff you describe does sound like it’s linked to low iron count. Tiredness, definitely. Low BP - don’t know, but I also have anemic tendencies and low bp. Never had the headaches though.
If you find it difficult to remember to take pills, I assume you know what you should be doing diet-wise, right? Cut out caffeine (coffee, cola), drink orange juice with your green leafy veggies, eat red meat and pate (unless you’re a vegetarian of course. Or pregnant…). That can make a BIG difference.
