Anemia, periods (girl talk) and thoughts on procrit?

Sorry, I don't have much good information to add, but do you have insurance or any way to afford the injections that your LLMD mentioned? I know with me, other types of injected vitamins seem to help me drastically and there is no comparing the injections to oral supplements for me. In fact, they are pretty much the only thing that ever gives me any relief from symptoms.

If you call around to compounding pharmacies (even out of state ones) you may be able to find an affordable price for the Procrit. I once found a $600 per month medication for $60 just by calling around.

As for the heavy periods, I think abnormalities with that are common with Lyme. I'm in my 20's and I don't even get mine anymore. Sometimes I'll get it for a day every few months.

Sorry you are going thru so much. Like you, I was always and still am, anemic. I had a hysterectomy at the young age of 30 in 2009 due to a prolapsed uterus, adenomyosis and really heavy cycles. We thought my anemia would clear up but it didn't.

I got my diagnosis of Lyme Disease, Bartonella and Babesia in February of 2011.  I have been on treatment since then and despite that, my RBC, hemoglobin and hematocrit remain low. I take a good quality iron and B Complex daily but it doesn't bring it up to normal. My hematologist said it is due to dealing with a chronic illness. My naturopath says its due to so much abx use. I really don't know. I hope you can get some relief because I remember what those draining cycles felt like and it was exausting. I still get the exaustion without the bleeding.

 

Hey PennyPru -
I have low feratin but high free iron which means that I'm not absorbing it much and when I take it, it just builds up in my system and just floats around! So clearly I'm struggling too. I can say that with more efficient lyme and bartonella treatment along with a good iron supplement I've had success over a year and been able to get my cycles from 10 days of very heavy cycles to 4-5 days. I used to be 3 days of moderate cycles in the past. I also started with pre-spotting at the beginning of a cycle which I had never had before. I'm hoping that once I get this bartonella under control I will be in a good place with that.

I just found out that I also have PCOS due to multiple cysts but I've had many evaluations for PCOS and no previous diagnosis so I'm thinking... lyme and bartonella can do lots of crazy things. I think that once you get the lyme stuff in a good place that you will notice your feratin levels will likely rise and your body will be able to more efficiently store the iron in a good way. Just make sure that when that point comes you don't over do it because that cause a whole other set of issues. Good luck.

And like others have said, I find that IV supplements work much better for me then oral. My doctor says this is the case with many lyme patients as there is only so much you can process and absorb while going through your liver and gutt. Often times these pathways are over taxed and struggling so via injection or IV seems to work better and allows it to get to the right places.