Low Hemoglobin and iron supplements

[Meena]

Hello everyone!

When i was young (10 years old), I usually vomit, have heartburn and have severe pain in stomach after eating stuff like pastries, patties, chips, burgers, samosas, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, halwa puri etc. I went to doctors several time but no one diagnosed the problem. They just gave me some medicine to cure the pain.

Few years back ( 22 years old), I gone through blood test. Results showed low haemoglobin, low iron serum, low ferritin, low vitamin b12, low vitamin D3. I also experienced some symptoms like severe hair fall, pain in joints, yellow skin, fatigue, shortness of breath while using stairs. I went to doctor again and he gave me supplements. After that my reports improved.

But after some time even after taking supplements regularly i face low haemoglobin. Doctor asked me to leave gluten. I left gluten and my reports improved again. I asked doctor that do I need further tests to check celiac disease but he said no need for that, you are already facing low HB due to this gluten, therefore stay on complete gluten free diet.

Now doctor has given me 4 supplements ( 3 iron tablets and 1 vitamin b12 plus vitamin D tablets once a month). I take them on regular basis. Once my doctor said to decrease the amount of supplements from 4 to 2, i again faced low haemoglobin.

From that time till now, I take 4 supplements everyday with strict gluten free diet.

My question is does everyone on gluten free diet takes supplements for HB level or I am the only one? Or is it due to late diagnosis ( late gluten free diet)

Please reply. It will really help.

Thank you friends

P.S: thank you for reading my long story.

[GodsGal]

2 hours ago, Meena said:

Hello everyone!

When i was young (10 years old), I usually vomit, have heartburn and have severe pain in stomach after eating stuff like pastries, patties, chips, burgers, samosas, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, halwa puri etc. I went to doctors several time but no one diagnosed the problem. They just gave me some medicine to cure the pain.

Few years back ( 22 years old), I gone through blood test. Results showed low haemoglobin, low iron serum, low ferritin, low vitamin b12, low vitamin D3. I also experienced some symptoms like severe hair fall, pain in joints, yellow skin, fatigue, shortness of breath while using stairs. I went to doctor again and he gave me supplements. After that my reports improved.

But after some time even after taking supplements regularly i face low haemoglobin. Doctor asked me to leave gluten. I left gluten and my reports improved again. I asked doctor that do I need further tests to check celiac disease but he said no need for that, you are already facing low HB due to this gluten, therefore stay on complete gluten free diet.

Now doctor has given me 4 supplements ( 3 iron tablets and 1 vitamin b12 plus vitamin D tablets once a month). I take them on regular basis. Once my doctor said to decrease the amount of supplements from 4 to 2, i again faced low haemoglobin.

From that time till now, I take 4 supplements everyday with strict gluten free diet.

My question is does everyone on gluten free diet takes supplements for HB level or I am the only one? Or is it due to late diagnosis ( late gluten free diet)

Please reply. It will really help.

Thank you friends

P.S: thank you for reading my long story.

Hi Meena!

Thanks for posting! It is very common for those of us with celiac to need to take supplements. And that's because the damage that has been done to our duodenum and small intestines doesn't allow us to absorb the vitamins we need from our food. I have had low iron levels from time to time, low vitamin D, and I am trying a B complex vitamin now. I hope this helps!

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, Meena!

Sounds like you have been diagnosed by some doctor as having celiac disease but without proper testing for the disease itself. The first stage of testing would involve blood tests that look for specific antibodies produced by celiac disease. Here is a primer on the blood tests for celiac disease: https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/. The tTG-IGA test is the center piece but some celiacs will show negative on that test so it is best to get the "Other tests" described in the article I linked to cover all the bases. 

The second stage of testing involves an endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel to check for damaged villi in the small bowel lining which is the defining characteristic of celiac disease. My guess would be that you are still getting some gluten in your diet that is preventing full rebound of the villi even though you say you are following a strict gluten free diet.

You might also have your doctor look into something called "pernicious anemia" in which the stomach does not produce enough of something called "intrinsic factor" necessary for absorption of B12. B12 in turn is necessary for the absorption of iron. When you have pernicious anemia, oral B12 supplementation does little good because the lack of intrinsic factor prevents it's uptake. People with pernicious anemia need B12 injections to keep that vitamin level up.