That Might Explain it ...

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Mart
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That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

Since I was on the Highland Trail in May, Ive been struggling to get my arse into gear
Thought I just needed a good rest, but after doing very little all summer and a good holiday still no different

- Feeling lethargic & tired even after small tasks
- low levels of concentration
- feeling rundown even after holiday

Was at doctors recently for something else and had a blood test done - Looks like my body's not absorbing iron!
His suggestion was to eat more green leaves, but Im thinking I can do better than that to raise my levels (combination of vitamins/food stuffs etc)
Not sure how long it will take to get my levels up again but just wanting to start feeling like I used to

Anyone had similar or got any suggestions
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middleagedmadness
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by middleagedmadness »

Try and get as much as you can from food stuff mart before you hit the vitamins ,or you could stop drinking that beer you brew in Burton and move onto the black stuff ,I've heard it's full of goodness ( joking apart there is a high iron content in stout) :-bd
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Mart
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

ha ha now I have an excuse to drink Guinness :-bd
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

Iron supplements are notorious at bunging you / some people up. I'd certainly go the diet-route first.
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by lune ranger »

Go the natural route.
Plenty of iron rich veg like greens, plenty of high quality meat. Make sure to also eat lots of vitamin c containing fruit/veg as well as this is a key component aid to the absorption of iron.
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by freddy_tanner »

Just had the same thing matey. Its possibly been compounded by some other stresses in my life but I was feeling really un-rested and fatigued for a good couple of months. Saw the doc and found the same as you.

Tried the natural way first, but after a few weeks got impatient. After a week and a bit of supplements I'm feeling great! Might play around with minimising the use of them, but as I feel that my fatigue was affecting my mental health also it was definitely the right choice.
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Mart
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

Glad your feeling better Freddy - Its giving me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel
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chambo82
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by chambo82 »

freddy_tanner wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:34 pm Just had the same thing matey. Its possibly been compounded by some other stresses in my life but I was feeling really un-rested and fatigued for a good couple of months. Saw the doc and found the same as you.

Tried the natural way first, but after a few weeks got impatient. After a week and a bit of supplements I'm feeling great! Might play around with minimising the use of them, but as I feel that my fatigue was affecting my mental health also it was definitely the right choice.
Reading posts like these is always informative ! Been struggling with fatigue myself for ages now , similar symptoms etc etc along with anxiety and feeling depressed to the point ive actually stayed in bed a couple of mornings way past the point I was supposed to be en route to work , enthusiam also gone out the window for any exercise , think il get a doctors appointment to see what they say :-bd

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Alpinum
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Alpinum »

Mart wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:14 am Anyone had similar or got any suggestions
Make sure your body can take the iron.

If you have gastric issues (reflux, gastritis, ulcers etc...), take anti acid meds (proton pump Inhibitor, rennie etc...) you may struggle to absorb iron. Not very likely, but my point is that sometimes there's more than just a lack of uptake behind the story.
Mart wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:14 am (combination of vitamins/food stuffs etc)
I think that's a very good way.
With iron less so, but many needed elements are absorbed with help from other molecules, often vitamins. Like calcium and vitamin D.
lune ranger wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:10 pm Plenty of iron rich veg like greens, plenty of high quality meat. Make sure to also eat lots of vitamin c containing fruit/veg as well as this is a key component aid to the absorption of iron.
This.

You're not pregnant, are you?
:wink:
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Mart
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

Alpinum wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 2:57 pm
Mart wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:14 am Anyone had similar or got any suggestions
Make sure your body can take the iron.

If you have gastric issues (reflux, gastritis, ulcers etc...), take anti acid meds (proton pump Inhibitor, rennie etc...) you may struggle to absorb iron. Not very likely, but my point is that sometimes there's more than just a lack of uptake behind the story.

You're not pregnant, are you?
:wink:
Funny that you say this but yes I do have gastric issues - hadn't heard about this so will look it up

Might also be pregnant - with doing sweet FA all summer my belly has increased somewhat :lol:
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ballibeg
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by ballibeg »

Would a Dr down your way necessarily think about Lyme's?
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Dave Barter »

ballibeg wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 3:28 pm Would a Dr down your way necessarily think about Lyme's?
I thought the very same especially after the HT550 comment. Definitely worth ruling it out via blood test.
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Alpinum
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Alpinum »

Dave Barter wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:08 pm
ballibeg wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 3:28 pm Would a Dr down your way necessarily think about Lyme's?
I thought the very same especially after the HT550 comment. Definitely worth ruling it out via blood test.
Good point.

Symptoms lack the joint pain and visible swelling of such, yet not every person shows the same/all symptoms.

On a side note; the bacteria which causes lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, is named after its discoverer, US microbiologist Willy Burgdorfer. His family name coming from the closest town to where I live. There's more to how this name comes to the US, but I'll end it with the little note, that a friend of mine played the organ when Mr. Burgdorfer visit the town eponymous to his name.
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by gairym »

I had exactly this in 2006.

All the same symptoms plus gastro issues and after extensive tests (blood, urine, stool, endoscopy, colonoscopy etc...) they said there was nothing wrong except that I wasn't absorbing B12.

They said that I should by all means eat more and take supplements but, seeing as they all deliver it via the stomach that already wasn't absorbing it, it likely wouldn't work.

And it didn't.

So I ended up with monthly intramuscular injections (DIY at home) which sorted everything out really, really quickly.

After a couple of years I stopped just to see if the problem persisted and I was fine so no idea what it was or why???

So could be the same or not but that's how it went for me :-bd
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Mart
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

Dave Barter wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:08 pm
ballibeg wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 3:28 pm Would a Dr down your way necessarily think about Lyme's?
I thought the very same especially after the HT550 comment. Definitely worth ruling it out via blood test.
Thanks guys, I don't think my bloods specifically tested for this, but will bear it in mind if things don't improve
I've had a few ticks over the years and wasn't aware of any when I was riding up Nth.
Not that ive had Lymes before so not sure how it actually feels (off to investigate!)
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ScotRoutes
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by ScotRoutes »

Lyme also crossed my mind after reading your post. The ring rash doesn't always happen so it can be easily missed. GPs are more aware of it now so should be able to offer advice - or put you straight on to a 3 week course of Doxy.
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by lune ranger »

ScotRoutes wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:34 am Lyme also crossed my mind after reading your post. The ring rash doesn't always happen so it can be easily missed. GPs are more aware of it now so should be able to offer advice - or put you straight on to a 3 week course of Doxy.
Rash is in as little as 30% of cases.
I was assuming the op has tested for iron deficiency anaemia.
Chronic Lymes is not so easy to shift with a simple course of Abx.
I’d be going with the advice of the clinician who has seen/assessed me and treating the presumed/known ailment. If symptoms persist then you can rule that out and go to the next differential diagnosis.
The op states a few tick bites in the last few years. Lymes is then of course possible and therefore worthy of consideration but as stated above does come (often not always) with additional symptoms such as joint pain, headaches, night sweats, dizziness, fever, visual disturbance, cognitive decline blah, blah
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Alpinum
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Alpinum »

When I pick a tick I mark the spot (draw a circle) and put the tick in the freezer for a while.

With this I can easily monitor the area and should I get some sort of symptoms, the frozen tick may give answers.
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by ScotRoutes »

Alpinum wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:49 pm When I pick a tick I mark the spot (draw a circle) and put the tick in the freezer for a while.

With this I can easily monitor the area and should I get some sort of symptoms, the frozen tick may give answers.
It'll be difficult to interrogate it once frozen to death. Or did you think that shining a bright light on it would do the trick?
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Alpinum
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Alpinum »

ScotRoutes wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:14 pm
Alpinum wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:49 pm When I pick a tick I mark the spot (draw a circle) and put the tick in the freezer for a while.

With this I can easily monitor the area and should I get some sort of symptoms, the frozen tick may give answers.
It'll be difficult to interrogate it once frozen to death. Or did you think that shining a bright light on it would do the trick?
Yeah, shine a desorbtion laser on it for a MALFI-TOF analysis. By the change in the mass spectral fingerprints we will know if the tick carried borrelia or not.



Just kidding. You'd need to isolate the bacteria first and only then you can run a MALDI-TOF spectrum analysis. But it could actually work. Yet, there are easier ways without the need to cultivate the bacteria.


Once you get the symptoms you go to the gp, he takes your blood, checks the symptoms and sends the tick to a lab - a regular hospital with be able to run such tests and many bioanalitical labs will do it too. We have tick test you can buy in Switzerland and it says what to do and where to send the tick. A few days later you get the result.

The test of the tick for borrelia is a regular DNA test. Samples of the tick are run through PCR to multiplicate the DNA and then the whole DNA is analysed. If in this DNA analysis the DNA of borrelia shows up, the chances are pretty high - combined with the symptoms, that you are infected.

It's been stated on the forum a few times I'm sure, but again;
Check for ticks after a ride. If you have one and remove it before about 12 h have past after being bitten, you significantly reduce the risk of getting infected.

What did you think?
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by lune ranger »

Tick testing not (usually)available in uk through gp/nhs but you can participate in tick surveillance through this govt scheme:-

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tick-surveillance-scheme

Isn’t this an iron deficiency thread :grin:
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Mart
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by Mart »

Alpinum wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:49 pm When I pick a tick I mark the spot (draw a circle) and put the tick in the freezer for a while.

With this I can easily monitor the area and should I get some sort of symptoms, the frozen tick may give answers.
Ive heard of others doing the keep them in the freezer (usually on a bit of selotape with the date/details etc)
Going to do that next time I get one

I've done a bit of reading up on symptoms you get with Lyme's and I don't have any others that are mentioned, so think that's unlikely
So
Have to assume its just the low iron levels that is making me fatigued.

Ive started eating much better, substituting spinach leaves for lettuce for salads, and generally opting for foods that have higher iron levels (nuts, Guinness,)
I'm also combining better eating with a low dose iron tablet to boost it a little on days where im conscious ive not had enough through normal diet
NB : Need to be careful not to overdo it and have too much as that can cause its own problems
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Re: That Might Explain it ...

Post by RIP »

problems - true Mart but on the upside you'd be guaranteed to win Iron Man race :smile:
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