Exhausted? Could Be Anemia Due To Folate Deficiency

[IrishHeart]

Hi Everyone!

If you are still having headaches, feeling tired, short of breath, dragging your feet, depressed, hair still falling out (and maybe your tongue feels inflamed)and it is NOT your thyroid or D-3 level, because those are "normal".... and you know for SURE you are 100% gluten-free...and still feel lousy...well, you may have a FOLATE deficiency.

PLEASE, ask the doc to test your FOLATE level as well as your B-12 level as BOTH of these are drastically impacted with celiac. BOTH forms of anemia can result.

Someone may have already posted all this long before I joined the forum--and many of you probably already know this --in which case, sorry for the repeat info. It's just so frustrating for me to have to keep figuring these things out for myself and I wouldn't want anyone else suffering needlessly.

I am so PISSED OFF because I asked repeatedly for 2 years "WHY am I SO TIRED???" but cannot sleep????...they just kept checking the B-12 level, which was FINE because I take B-12....they NEVER tested the serum folate!!!

SONUVA....

and yes, this is VERY COMMON in celiac and malabsorption so EVERYONE should have this testing done.

Why aren't the doctors more helpful??????? I am so angry and sad. I have to keep fighting to be heard, to be helped.

It's a damn good thing I can read ( which wasn't easy all "glutenend up" and unable to comprehend for 2 years) and learn what goes wrong in a body with malabsorption. But my question is, why do WE have to be our own doctors??

ARRGGHH!! okay, rant over geesh..... here is a link to read. Hope this helps!!

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HERE's another from GIG:

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[eatmeat4good]

Thanks for sharing everything you learn. We will make Dr.'s out of them yet. Or we will get healthy in spite of them...keep reading IrishHeart!! Can't wait to see what yer gonna do when yer really well! There will be no stopping you!

[IrishHeart]

Thanks for sharing everything you learn. We will make Dr.'s out of them yet. Or we will get healthy in spite of them...keep reading IrishHeart!! Can't wait to see what yer gonna do when yer really well! There will be no stopping you!

ah, my meaty friend ...glad I can help somehow. YOU ---and everyone else on here--- have been a LIFELINE...really couldn't do this without the support of this awesome community!!

[mushroom]

That's what happened to me too. I self-diagnosed and found this place. I would read on here, then go to my doc and say, I need to be tested for x and y. Usually they were low. Then I would read some more and say I need to be tested for z and a. Take supplements for those, still feel bad, say I need my thyroid tested. Got the results (always copies for my file) and she said they were fine (in normal range). Read more on here and told her, those ranges are out of date, and the reason I am so cold all the time IS my thyroid. Got my meds, and warmed up. She has always been great, will test for whatever I ask for because she knows I know more about it than she does.

Two of my deficiencies were B12 and folate. I kept getting these blood test results showing my MCV was high. She said it was mean cell volume and it was "just" out of range. Well that "just" out of range combined with the low folate and B12 meant I had pernicious anemia and that is why I felt like crap all the time.

So as with everything else in life, you can't afford to leave it to the experts, Yes, you have to be your own doctor, your own lawyer sometimes, your own scientist (especially when it comes to GMO), and on and on ..... I can't imagine being a head in the sand kind of person. Sure, it gets us riled up, but on some level we do effect change.

[IrishHeart]

That's what happened to me too. I self-diagnosed and found this place. I would read on here, then go to my doc and say, I need to be tested for x and y. Usually they were low. Then I would read some more and say I need to be tested for z and a. Take supplements for those, still feel bad, say I need my thyroid tested. Got the results (always copies for my file) and she said they were fine (in normal range). Read more on here and told her, those ranges are out of date, and the reason I am so cold all the time IS my thyroid. Got my meds, and warmed up. She has always been great, will test for whatever I ask for because she knows I know more about it than she does.

Two of my deficiencies were B12 and folate. I kept getting these blood test results showing my MCV was high. She said it was mean cell volume and it was "just" out of range. Well that "just" out of range combined with the low folate and B12 meant I had pernicious anemia and that is why I felt like crap all the time.

So as with everything else in life, you can't afford to leave it to the experts, Yes, you have to be your own doctor, your own lawyer sometimes, your own scientist (especially when it comes to GMO), and on and on ..... I can't imagine being a head in the sand kind of person. Sure, it gets us riled up, but on some level we do effect change.

Our experiences parallel each other, dear Shroom!

My 3 years of research kept bringing me to this site as well! Almost everything wrong in me was explained right here.

If I were not my own best advocate, I do not know what would have happened to me.

The sad part is, my PC doctor's own children have celiac and he could not see all my symptoms as giant red flags and I wandered from specialist to specialist for 3 years, even consulting alternative med professionals and a functional med MD out of desperation. Spent thousands and thousands on tests, supplements, therapies-- to no avail. How could they work? The gluten was the underlying problem and my blood tests were NEG. I was even encouraged to keep eating it, by the gastroenterologist's Nurse practitioner....

He feels pretty bad about that, I think. Granted, I did have a LOT of stuff going on and many of my test results were "normal" except low B-12, which he had me supplement starting back in 2007. That was the beginning of my decline. And perhaps, the first red flag he missed....

I bring my concerns to him now and he is happy to follow MY lead. I even bring him copies of the latest research and he accepts them gracefully. I am too tired to start over with a new doctor, so he'll do whatever I ask willingly.

I hope that addressing the low folate is the final piece of the puzzle. Everything else has been checked and re-checked....fingers crossed!

Thanks for your thoughts. They keep me encouraged!