Update- anemia and migraines

Hi All,

I have just been diagnosed as severely anemic. Last year, I was diagnosed with anemia and my doctor prescribed Iron- it did help the fainting and I had more energy for a few months. Headaches didn't change much. When I had it checked a few weeks ago, my counts were very low. Low enough for my doctor to call the hematologist at the cancer center. Also, I only found out how bad it was when I received a call telling me about an appointment with the hematologist- the blood work showed a low hematocrit- 30.

I saw the hematologist on Tuesday. It turns out that I am severely anemic. I will be getting IV iron once a week for the next eight weeks. The hematologist said that he has seen several people with both headaches and fainting who were anemic. He said that the iron had helped them and we are going to see if this helps at all. Even if it gives me a little energy back, that would be great. I hope this helps both the headaches and the fainting.

The one bad thing about this is the fact that I may have to push the next round of botox back a bit. My hematologist said it shouldn't be a problem, but I need to check with my neuro- next round of Botox is in June. I may hold off on it until I've had a few iron treatments just to make sure we are moving in the right direction.

The headaches and fainting have been horrendous lately. I hope the iron will help just a bit. I've had a really hard time just keeping up with normal life stuff recently. I haven't been able to think or concentrate that well on things for the last few weeks. I hate it. I hope that this will help. I will keep you upfated.

Pain free days,
sailing

I have been anaemic as a child and had bouts on (nearly) fainting spells. I also had h/a since I was a child.

Then, after my first child it was so bad that I could barely stand, I felt weak and quite ill all the time. I kept being told it was because of tiredness from looking after the baby (I've breast fed until she was 9 months, too), but when in the end I had the blood test the doctor was horrified because my red blood count was so terribly low.

I did have a long course of Iron and it helped in sorting my blood count, but did not make massive difference for my h/a. Sorry. After that I had to have my blood count checked from time to time for anaemia and I had to be careful with the right diet etc. I also had very heavy periods lasting 6/7 days, which did not help. I have no problem with anaemia, since my menopause which is great news.