Anemia Support Group

My name is Cara and I'm a 34 year old single working professional living in Nashville, Tennessee though I'm originally from the Boston area. I live with my adorable tuxedo cat Gummi, do a lot of singing and songwriting, and am very active in my church.

I hope you will find people to give you empathy, compassion, and support and that this be a place to share experiences and suggestions with one another.

Please read my diary entries at your leisure to get the in depth "experience" of my health story. Anemia related to hypermenorrhagia.

Here is a summary...

In Oct. of 2008 I started having seriously heavy periods. By March of 2009 I went to my primary care physician to get help - he sent me to an OB/GYN. She wanted to put me on hormones - I refused. On July 31, 2009, I asked my boss to drive me to the ER because I thought I was bleeding to death.

After another ultrasound it was determined the fibroid had advanced to 3.6 cm. The OB/GYN put me on tons of hormones and crossed her fingers.

I kept bleeding. In fact, I'm still bleeding since my period "started" October 15, 2009. I nearly bled out while overnight babysitting and in the back of an airplane on the way to LAX. The anemia symptoms were awful, I had every single one of them, including heart issues, which I had an EKG and chest X-ray at the ER for. The iron pills and high iron diet have caused even more issues, but I am no longer anemic and am having surgery 1/18/10 to remove the fibroid. My symptoms will disappear. I am looking forward to that time!

Looking forward to getting to know you and hearing your stories. Anemia sucks. I wouldn't wish it on anyone and I pray it resolves itself in each of you.

Blessings,

Cara

I'm Corinna, a stay at home wife, mom, business owner, and homeschooler. My husband Dustin and I met in my hometown of Laramie, WY while we were both going to college. We now live in his home state of WA in a rural area outside of Vancouver. We have two beautiful daughters, the older of which is married and moved out, while the younger is at home completing her last year or so of (homeschool) high school before moving on to college. Our daughters help us run our businesses (HVAC and a worm farm) out of our home. We are also active in our church; my husband takes care of the sound board and recording/making copies of sermons while I help on the Facebook page and in the food ministry when I can.

My experience with anemia started when I was pregnant the first time and found out I was anemic. I probably had been (iron deficient) anemic prior to being pregnant due to heavy periods. The nurses and doctors were of little help; they did not adequately explain what anemia was, how it affected me and my pregnancy, my lab results, or how long I would need to continue iron therapy to improve/cure my anemia. Even worse, they did not monitor me for anemia after the baby was born. My second pregnancy was a repeat of the first. I notice that, as a general rule, medical professionals do not adequately educate their patients about anemia.

It wasn't until a decade later in my mid 30's that I was diagnosed by a (wonderful) physician's assistant as having anemia while there for an unrelated condition. Several doctors had missed the diagnosis in the interim despite my fairly obvious symptoms. At that point I began to educated myself about not only iron deficiency anemia, but several of the more common types of anemia. I am currently going through a rough patch with fibroids that are causing me to bleed above and beyond my already heavy periods (with a current hemoglobin on 8.4) and am scheduled for an IV iron infusion this coming week. Hopefully, shortly thereafter I will be getting NovaSure endometrial ablation and have high hopes that this will be the end of my long battle with anemia.