Anemic?

[Quin Separable]

Well last night one of the waitresses brought a couple magazines to work with her. I was skimming through one waiting for a table to leave and stumbled across an article about anemia. The more I read, the more I thought "hmm...this kind of sounds like me".

There was a small check-list thing at the bottom corner that listed 8-10 symptoms. It said if you could check off 2 then you could be borderline anemic. I checked off around half.

I was just wondering if anyone around here is anemic and could shed some light on the subject. I mean I've looked anemia up and got a basic rundown. I know there's different types and all.

Some of the symptoms listed that I seem to have include:

*fatigue - no matter how much or how little sleep I always feel tired
*cold extremities - even if it's 75 degrees out my hands and\or feet are always cold. In fact, right now my feet are cold.
*dizziness - you know that feeling you get when you get up too quick? Well I get that quite often
*Headaches - it seems like recently I've had a headache every day. Even my BF noticed that I had quite a bit of them
*Heart Palpitations - On occasion my heart will "skip a beat" so to say.
*Irregular Periods - Last I completely missed my period. This month my period was unusually short and not as heavy as it normally is.

They also say that if you're iron-deficient, you will crave unusually substances such as ice or dirt. I don't necessarily crave ice, but if ice is in a drink then I eat all of it. If the ice has melted in my drink, I'll either stop drinking it or go get more ice. This could be more of an OCD or something though.

So, I'm not sure. I mean something is more than likely going on...I think it may be anemia. For those who suffer\knows someone who suffers...does it sound like anemia or something else?

[Rocket]

quinseparable said:

*fatigue - no matter how much or how little sleep I always feel tired - have that
*cold extremities - even if it's 75 degrees out my hands and\or feet are always cold. In fact, right now my feet are cold. - too
*dizziness - you know that feeling you get when you get up too quick? Well I get that quite often - Yep.
*Headaches - it seems like recently I've had a headache every day. Even my BF noticed that I had quite a bit of them - Quite often
*Heart Palpitations - On occasion my heart will "skip a beat" so to say. - know that too
*Irregular Periods - Last I completely missed my period. This month my period was unusually short and not as heavy as it normally is. - I'm a boy

Okay, now what is Anemia?

[Fusion Fox]

My mother suffers from Anemia, if you have any questions I could ask her

[Naked Mole Rat]

Quin hun,
the best thing you can do if you are concerned is see your doctor.
I am sure they would rather you were checked out and found it to be a false alarm!

[Loser7]

I don't think I have it, but I am dizzy quite often unexpectedly, and I can never get enough sleep.

Other than that I'm looking okay according to that list.

I did used to think that the some of the dirt pieces tasted good when I'd slide into a base and accidentally get some in my mouth, but I think that's just me being weird, lol.

If you're worried about having it you should go see a doctor. That's the best and safest thing to do :D

[Naked Mole Rat]

Loser ..... I am so with you on the sleep thing. My other half has to physically remove me from bed at weekends if we dont have plans to go places or Id sleep friday right through to monday.

[Luqkim...]

rocket said:

quinseparable said:

*fatigue - no matter how much or how little sleep I always feel tired - have that
*cold extremities - even if it's 75 degrees out my hands and\or feet are always cold. In fact, right now my feet are cold. - too
*dizziness - you know that feeling you get when you get up too quick? Well I get that quite often - Yep.
*Headaches - it seems like recently I've had a headache every day. Even my BF noticed that I had quite a bit of them - Quite often
*Heart Palpitations - On occasion my heart will "skip a beat" so to say. - know that too
*Irregular Periods - Last I completely missed my period. This month my period was unusually short and not as heavy as it normally is. - I'm a boy

Okay, now what is Anemia?

Anemia is a form of a disease where the person is lacking or has a deficiency of Red blood cells or hemoglobin in the body.

If a person is anemic, he/she should eat more Iron such as Red Meat or Liver, because Iron helps create Red Blood cells. Red Blood cells are important as it carries oxygen throughout the entire body.

Food and Nutrition & Chem class did taught me a thing or two afterall ..

[Guru Mandi (will return)]

My sister used to be anemic. She was so pale, it scared me. She had to take prescribed medicine - iron tablets. And she ate peanuts, steak, and fish unil her head exploded. But it worked

[Fusion Fox]

Most cereals should contain added iron

[Quin Separable]

Thanks guys. Yeah I should see a doctor but money is really tight right now with me going off to college and none of us have any kind of medical insurance.

I'm not a big meat eater either. But I can definitely eat peanuts...cereal too (I need to get into the habit of eating breakfast anyway..) So I'll try that and see how I feel in a few months. If nothing gets better I'll go see a doctor.

[hannah]

lol, i found out that i was anemic when i went to donate blood back in 12th grade. all i did was buy some dietary iron supplements. i haven't been taking them lately though, so a lot of the symptoms have shown up again.

[Ashley Benlove]

Is it possible to be anemic if you're... heavyset?

Not that I have any of the symptoms or miss my periods. They come right on time. It's just when I wake up too early, I'm really tired.

[drakkenfan]

What a coincidence... my doctor just called me yesterday to say that all of my pregnancy bloodwork was normal, except for the fact that I'm anemic. Of course I've been anemic my whole life. Even as a 6 year old child I used to have to get weekly shots of iron.

[Ashley Benlove]

I would have been like, "No! Really? I've known this since I was like 6, Doctor Obvious!"

But, that's me...

[hannah]

ashleybenlove said:

Is it possible to be anemic if you're... heavyset?

Not that I have any of the symptoms or miss my periods. They come right on time. It's just when I wake up too early, I'm really tired.

it is very much possible. the most common form of anemia/iron deficiency comes from a lack of iron in one's diet. if someone's large because of their diet, that doesn't exactly mean that just because they're eating a lot, they're eating a lot of food with iron in it.

without taking supplements, the best option would be to eat more iron-rich foods (liver, seafood, beans, dried fruit). it also helps to drink citrus fruit juices (orange, grapefruit).

[Ashley Benlove]

I hate the way liver smells. I'm not a fan of seafood (used to be) and bans are le gross.

[hannah]

eat raisins and prunes then.

really though... beans are delicious.