Anyone else dealing with anemia post-op?

Hi All,

The latest update on my anemia shows my hemoglobin count is slowly getting better (9.5), but my ferritin is really low at 5. My doctor said it's going to take about 6 more weeks until I feel signicantly better

I can get through most days until about 2-3 in the afternoon, then I crash and have to take a nap for a few hours. And I still occasionally get dizzy and sometimes have mental foggyness.

Hi ladies!
During surgery I lost a lot of blood, my endo was pretty determined to stay with me!
My BP was around 70/40 for a few days after surgery, which is pretty low.

I've been anemic before due to long periods and hated taking iron as it really messes with my bowels.

Now my bowels are happy as the endo has been unwrapped from them and I'm hesitant to take the iron, but I am.

The dr told me you must take more than 300 mg a day in order to have an impact. A good easy on the system supplement is Slow Fe. It is the best I've found for being easy on the bowels.

It is important to take lots of water and increase your fiber intake as well!

Hi Elisabeth,

Thanks for the advice! I was just wondering how long it took you to start feeling better from the anemia?

I feel like my recovery has been one step forward, two steps back, but I've also been told recovery from anemia is a slow process, so I'm trying to be patient. I do feel a little better than I did 3 weeks ago, thank God!

Be patient! I was anemic after surgery due to blood loss. Even after transfusions I was pretty weak and sleepy. Then my blood pressure sank. I was so dizzy I was falling into furniture. My doctors said he would rather not do another transfusion and it took at least 2 weeks for the body to make blood. He also said that anemia is a way for your body to make you take things easy. I slept a lot, ate red meat. fruit juice and lots of spinach. Now all is normal! I can even drive again.
Don't worry and be patient (unless it drops really low).
CactusLoon

Hi Kitty,
I must admit I haven't been taking the iron consistently, I was too worried about my bowels not working!!

I increased other forms of iron, through diet and I do feel better. I'm not falling over or almost blacking out anymore

I really think it takes time, I know before it was 6 weeks before my tests improved and that was taking 300 mg a day!

I am now taking 150 mg a day and will increase to 300 in a week or so.

Hi ladies!

I had my Suprecervical AH, kept the ovaries, on a week ago. I was only boderline anemic before the surgery (low in the normal range). However, when I had my MRI done thinking of having UAE then at the end of April, it showed that my bone marrow was working overtime trying to compensate for the blood loss during me heavy periods. At least, that is how my hematologist-oncologist (my GYN Dr referred me to him for a consultation)explained some bone marrow abnormality after all other tests were OK. I certainly was quite nervous as MRI report suggested to exclude a myeloma. which is a kind of cancer.

After the surgery last week, I got anemic, and had very low blood pressure for several days. They did blood tests a couple of time before releasing me from the hospital but it still did not get back to normal. I felt really weak, sleepy, could not sustain a short conversation with my eyes open. Had to keep my eyes closed to listen. My GYN doctor prescribed me a certain kind of iron pill which my insurance company did not cover (I did not feel like paying $90 out-of-pocket). So my DH bought some Iron Complex supplement by NOW over the counter. It contains Iron in the form of Ferrochel Iron Bisglycinate -158mg. It is supposed to be non-constipating. I am taking one a day. But after having read the posts on this topic, I wonder if I need to take more than that. May be need to increase the dose to make it 300 mg to help my system better.

I chose not to do UAE, obviously. Amongst other things because I did not want to have any more stress on my bone marrow either from heavy bleeding or from considerable X-ray exposure. My bone marrow condition was also one of the reasons of going a hysterectomy route in addition to fibroid, and that stuff. Now I have to recover from AH, and get my blood situation under control.

Thank you all for sharing.

i'm still dealing with the anemia issue...i've had to be on antibiotics, pretty much continuously since the surgery and the iron interferes with them, so no iron for me right now

my biggest motivation for the hyst was getting rid of this lousy anemia so i can be a normal person again who can go for a walk and stuff like that...but i'm stuck right now

Malenda,
You might want to increase your iron to 300. I was anemic but my Hemoglobin is low normal now. My red cells are still smaller than normal (MCV = 80,,, was previously 96 for >20 yrs) due to decreased iron stores in the bone marrow.
I thought I could just increase it by diet but after 6 wks not as good as i wished.
I am back on my iron to build these up to normal size.
I wasn't taking the iron post surgery because i was afraid of bowel issues but now it is 6 wks post and back on it.
the over the counter iron is fine to take.
Good luck
_____________________________
TAH - kept ovaries - sept 8

Thank you for your responce and advice. I should probably increase my iron intake right away before I get my next blod draw. THANK YOU!!!

My doctor recommended that I continue taking iron for at least 6 more weeks, then I'm scheduled for another blood test, so we'll see how it looks then. My iron stores (ferritin) right now are low, at 5. My hemoglobin was 9.5, still low but better than 8.5 when I left the hospital.

Recovering from anemia is a slow process, but we have to remind ourselves every day we are getting better