Anemia Support Group

I've been thumbing through this area, and there is much talk of ferritin given IV; it taking about 4 hours long. I've NOt seen anyone say they had it more than one day in a row. I'm scheduled this Wed., Thurs., and Fri. afternoon.

Do I have cause to be concerned? sheoud I take my backless gown and RUN??????

crz49 - I'm sorry I don't have personal experience with infusions, but I hope these went well for you. It's tough to have fear of the unknown, that is why we write our stories here. Hope you will pave the way for the next person by letting us know how it went.

Well, CBelle, the actual infusion would have been boring, but luckily I slept the entire 4 hours each of the 3 days. I had severe stomach pains, but unlike taking iron orally, they only lasted for about 5 days, total....and Tums were a huge help. There was also a weird phenomenon...diarrhea without any warning. Luckily (now this is stretching the word "Luck") I was wearing a larger pad for bladder incontinence, and had no embarrassing incidents. All in all, if someone has to have them, my advice is to approach it with a positive mental attitude that this is healing the body, and side effects are temporary. I haven't had a follow-up blood test as yet, but I've been sleeping almost 24/7. I don't know if this is the anemia...or a sleep problem.

Does anyone here sleep as much?

My best wishes to all.

Corri

My hemoglobin last checked 3 months ago was 8.4...been taking supplements but don't think they are keeping up with the blood loss (heavy periods + fibroids) so I'm pretty sure its about the same or maybe even lower and I need to sleep quite a bit. If left to my own devices I'm sure I would sleep 12-15 hours a day, but as it is I get from 6-12 hours, depending on what day of the week it is. I try my best to have one day a week where I go to bed early and sleep late getting 12+ hours in, then sit around and do next to nothing for the rest of that day, and go to bed early again. That's usually Sunday night into Monday. The latter part of the week and weekends are my busiest times. So after the excitement of Church and socializing on Sunday, doing very physical work Saturdays, running a few hundred miles worth of errands on Friday and whatever else Tues--Thursday had me doing, by Monday I'm beat!

Gee, Corinna, sorry to hear about what you're going through....but in the same breath, I'm grateful to know I'm not alone...I thought I was losing my sanity.

Thanks for sharring

Corri

Nope, not losing your sanity at all...hypersomnia is a common side effect of anemia. BTW, glad to hear your infusions went well.