The Healthy Celiac Podcast

Iron Deficiency and Celiac Disease Ep. 102

March 27, 2023 Belinda Whelan Season 1 Episode 102
The Healthy Celiac Podcast
Iron Deficiency and Celiac Disease Ep. 102
Show Notes Transcript

In today's episode I am sharing my story about anemia and the signs to look out for.

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Speaker 1:

So last week I was diagnosed with anemia and I wanted to share with you my story today and talk with you about iron deficiency because it does relate quite closely to many people with celiac disease, not only after a diagnosis, but many years down the track. So I wanted to share with you how this came about and yeah, what I'm doing about it and what signs that you need to look for so that you don't also have iron deficiency. So every year I go and get a blood panel work and I recommend that everyone does this. I have a list inside Ultimate Celiac system of what you can take to your doctor, what I recommend that you get checked. But one of the things that I got checked at my recent annual blood test was my iron levels. And thank God, because I am anemic and it has come about very slowly, it's been a gradual thing. And now that I know that I'm anemic, I can really look back and see that it has crept up on me and I can see that there were warning signs. But what's interesting is some of the symptoms are very, very similar to if you've been glutened. So I wanted to share my story because so many people reach out to me and let me know that it's been years since their diagnosis. They've cut out gluten, they're very careful with cross contact, but they still feel very blah. They still feel very low and and they don't feel a hundred percent, they don't feel at their best. And it simply could be that you do have low iron. It could be that you are anemic and you quite simply need to do something about it. So when I went to my doctor's last week, she said to me that my iron levels were so low that she wanted to send me almost there and then and go and get an iron infusion, which I didn't want to do to be quite honest, because there are a lot of side effects from them and I didn't really want to go down that route. So she recommended that I start on supplements. So TA start taking iron supplements because for me already being anemic, it wasn't enough to go and, you know, focus on my diet because I already focus on eating really well. I already have an iron rich diet, but the reason that I got anemic is because I have such a heavy menstrual cycle. So because I have such heavy blood loss, it has led to me being anemic and this is something that has progressed over a period of time and she's doing further tests, but we think it's because I'm already in perimenopause. So that is another side effect of that, that it causes major blood loss when you have your period. And that in turn has caused the anemia for me. So fun times being a woman, isn't it?<laugh>, all this stuff we have to navigate on top of having celiac disease. But anyway,

Speaker 2:

So for me, I have started on iron supplements. I must admit today as I'm recording this, it's morning. Normally I not a morning person, I'm not the best in the morning. However, today I feel quite good. So I've been on these iron supplements for less than a week now and I do actually feel today that they've kind of started to take place now I think it has snuck up on me and you've probably heard me talk about this many times. If you've listened to any of my other episodes, I get woken up a lot. I have young children and they tend to wake me nearly every single night. And I've just put the tiredness over the past few months down to getting woken up all the time and not getting a good night's sleep. But there have been nights where occasionally I do get a full night's sleep. It's very rare. But there have been a few nights where I've had a really good night's sleep, I haven't been interrupted, I've gone to bed early, I've woken up before my alarm clock and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. What's going on here? But then my husband's gone, oh, you must be feeling great, or how are you feeling? Or whatever. Some of those questions<laugh> and I've turned around and gone, oh my god, I feel, I feel exhausted. I'm so tired. He's like, what? You had a great night's sleep. How are you so tired? I don't know. And I didn't even question it. I didn't, which is crazy to think now that I wasn't even, well, what's going on? But it just, I guess it just was one of those gradual things. And it's a little bit like when I did get, um, when I found out that I had celiac disease, it was a gradual thing. Things, my symptoms tended to get worse and worse as the months led on. And I guess it's a little bit the same with this, things have gotten worse and worse as things have gone on. So if you notice any weird signs and symptoms that you pretty confident, you don't wanna relate that to celiac disease, but you feel like it could be to do with an iron deficiency, you need to go get a blood test, you can't self diagnose this. This is something that you have to get a blood test done in order to know for sure. A, because you don't want to be self diagnosing yourself on this. And B, if you go and take supplements to treat an iron deficiency that you don't have, it can be toxic and it can actually be fatal. So please don't mess around with this. Please make sure you go and speak to your doctor, get a blood test and get on top of it. But some of the symptoms that I noticed were general fatigue, brittle nails. My fingernails were just breaking constantly and my skin was really, really dry. The main thing I think for me was the fatigue, but I've also noticed had breathlessness. So when I'm not even doing like, you

Speaker 3:

Know, know, pulling the washing out of the washing machine, I was getting breathless and I couldn't, couldn't have even noticed it at the time. But now that I think about it, I'm like, yeah, I was, I was feeling breathless when I was doing these really small activities. So very strange. Um, but there's, there's lots of different signs and symptoms. There's gray power of skin, there's dark circles under the eyes, there's, yeah, there's lots of different things that can show you that you do have either low iron or anemia. So keep keep track of these now that I've mentioned it to you. Hopefully that helps you with awareness. But like I said, it's one of those things that kind of creeps up on you and before you know it, it's gotten quite bad. Now I must admit, I don't know how long I would've kept going feeling this way if it hadn't have been for going for my annual blood test. And a few people have slammed me this car past couple of weeks because I share this quite often, that you do need to go and have an annual blood test. And so many people like, no, that's ridiculous. My doctor said, you don't have to do that. You just have to eat gluten free or no, it's not gonna show anything. Yes it does. It does show something. So if there's something going on with you, it helps to acknowledge that and find the answers. This isn't related to celiac disease. I don't have anemia because of celiac disease this time. But what if something else had been caught? What if I had Hashimotos, like my dau, my doctor, I was gonna say daughter, then<laugh> like my doctor thought that I had, she was able to rule out Crohn's. She was able to look at a few other things that she was concerned about and rule them out there and then, which was amazing. But if I hadn't have gone for my annual blood test, this anemia wouldn't have got picked up. And who knows how much worse I would've got before I finally went to my doctor and asked questions. And who knows whether she would've done the blood test to check for my iron, who knows? But I personally think that an annual blood test is fabulous for keeping on top of your health and making sure that you are on track. So you know, if it's something that you are feeling that things aren't right with you, then it's the perfect opportunity to have a chat with your doctor, check your blood tests, check everything that's going on for you and make sure that you are on track with your health. Now there are ways that we can improve our iron levels through diet and depending on people's iron deficiencies will depend on whether you need to supplement. For me, my iron levels were so low that it was classed as anemia that I did have to go on the supplements. So it wasn't enough to focus on diet. So you may not even need to go on supplements. If you have low iron, you may be at a level where your

Speaker 4:

Doctor decides, no, it's okay, we can just improve your diet. You can look at your diet and figure out that maybe you are not eating enough, you know, iron rich red meat, you're not eating enough of the good healthy foods that improve your iron. And there's so many ways that we can actually help iron absorption as well through the way that we eat. So you know, there's that option as well. So as a health coach, it's not my area to be able to say, yes, you need to do this, or yes, you need to do that. No, you need to talk to your doctor about what they recommend. And if they say you can do it through diet, then fantastic. If they say you need to do it through supplements, then fantastic. Do it through that. Whatever is recommended for you is right for you. I am also focusing more on my diet than ever before, so that when I can transition off the iron supplements and make sure that I am keeping on top of everything to do with my diet, that will help as well. But you know, if I keep continuing having this amount of blood loss each and every month, I may have to stay on iron supplements until I'm on the other side of perimenopause and gone through menopause. So<laugh>, we will see that's a, that's a journey that I have no idea what's going to happen. So we will see what happens there. But yeah, it's one of those things that I feel has crept up on me and I'm kind of annoyed that it's happened, but I'm so grateful and so relieved that I now have some answers as to why I was feeling so tired and I should have more energy now when I go to the gym, I should feel better because that's another one. Irritability and anxiety are two other things that show up quite often when you are low in iron or anemic. And that has been a big thing for me lately. I've been very anxious, very irritable, and I just linked that<laugh> in with the tiredness. So yeah, it's very interesting how everything kind of plays in with each other. And yeah, when we fix one thing, it can help fix another thing. So I hope that helps you. If this is something that you've been struggling with and like I said, go, go speak to your doctor, get a blood test, get on top of everything. And if you want my checklist of what you need to take with you to get your annual blood test for living with celiac disease, please head to Ultimate Celiac system and check that program out. It's my signature program, it's my six week program, and I promise you you will not regret doing that course. You'll learn so much about yourself and so much about living with celiac disease. So I'll drop a link below, but otherwise I will talk with you again very, very soon. Take care. Bye.