Anaemia & AS

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I think i may have discovered why i have some health issues that i just couldn't put down to Aspergers.

Tiredness, total lack of physical energy, weight loss, pale skin...All what i have quite severely....

These where what was listed as signs of Anaemia (some spell it differently) and its all down to lack of red blood cells....I am in no way a doctor so i wont go into all that bio detail stuff.

OK so it may not be linked in anyway to Aspergers but what a feelling it is after all these years to actually say to myself what it is that makes me different to the people around me....I have to say it to myself because no one would care if i said anything anyway

Alex(uk version)

Anaemia is (usually) caused by iron deficiency; something like 3/4 of all women in the Western World are anaemic.

I've never had that problem as I was addicted to chocolate as a child (chocolate is high in iron), and green veges are my favourite food (which is also one of the best sources of iron). All the foods I love are high in iron so I'm ok.

Go to your doctor and they'll be able to check for you - they may do a full blood test, but usually for me it's just a thumb-prick - and then possibly put you on iron tablets or something for a while.

Thanks. I read about the lack of Iron and that would because Ive hardly ever eaten a single vegetable in my whole life. When it comes to eating i am very fussy, thats if i eat at all.

So would Iron tablets help my tiredness ?? If so then its a breakthrough ! !

Well, they'd stop the iron deficiency so presumably the tiredness too.

But what would help more is eating vegetables!! Seriously, you cannot underestimate how important those things are. There must be some you like, and there are so many ways to eat a vege that can change the texture and flavour. Cooking, baking, frying, boiling, steaming, raw, cooked, sauteed, stewed, in soups, juiced, canned, pureed... experiment and see if you can find a way that you'll eat them.

What don't you like about them specifically? I'm the queen of the vege, I'm sure I could suggest a way to get around it!!

I will eat oxtail soup but no other.

Potatoes but as chips or cheap mashed spud. Noodles but only the real cheap microwave ones.

Crisps, Custard tarts/cakes, Crisps, fagots, burgers

Crisps, the odd bit of chocolate, beans(but that takes too much time and its too messy), eggs(but not for a long time),
I eat yogurt of all different kinds as well...

There are a few other things besides but i will never add any green veg to my food. NEVER!!



Oh and Marmite i could by the bucket full ! !

But what is it you don't like specifically? The flavour? Texture? Smell? What is it, I bet I'll be able to find a way to get around it. As I said, veges are my favourite thing in the world!! I used to be incredibly fussy and only really eat chips, but now veges are my staple diet. Potatoes don't really count as veges either by the way as they're just a carbohydrate and convert to sugars.

Yoghurt is good, try and get probiotic stuff to help boost your system. Eggs are good too. What kind of beans do you have? Why are they messy? Should be easy if you get some nice green ones... just cut 'em up, put them in a pot of boiling salted water for 10mins or so, strain and then eat.

PS - btw - the blood is inherited by the mother. More food for thought and hypotheses to hash over.

Sorry for the multiple posts.

This might save you a lot of anguish - http://www.newstarget.com/anemia.html

Also, just to add, if you take iron you need to take Vitamin C with it to make sure your absorb it properly. Natural form is best, but supplement if you can't take the food.

You should not take iron supplements without getting your iron levels tested first.

I suspected my son had some kind of anaemia because he fatigues so easily, is pale, and weak. The doctor recently ordered all kinds of blood tests for him to check for any kind of vitamin deficiency or metabolic disorder. Everything came back as "normal". I give him a multivitamin.

Now, my son has needle phobia from all the blood they drew and I'm somewhat sorry that I subjected him to the labwork

There is a B vitamin that you need to absorb Iron too.
Two of my cousins are getting injections of it at the moment as they can't process iron.
can't remember which B vitamin though... sorry.

Eeek... no, I definitely wouldn't recommend taking them without having your levels checked first!!

Iron tabs are available over the counter here in the US. They USUALLY keep them behind the pharmacists desk because they give you a lecture about being careful around children. The bloody things are usually coated and look like candy and they can easily poison a child who takes too many.

I've had pernicious anemia for years, taking iron supplements, finally twice a day. Even that wasn't good enough so the doctor sent me in and I had two IV iron infusions. They're done a week apart and each infusion takes about 7 hours. Even that didn't work, then when they were testing me prior to surgery, looking for an endocrine tumor it turned out I didn't have, they discovered a mass in my right kidney. Turned out to be malignant renal cell carcinoma, and tumors suck up iron like crazy. Since they took the damned thing out my levels have been pretty good, except when I was bleeding internally, but that's a different matter...

My point being, if your anemic, see a doctor. You can be anemic for any NUMBER of reasons, including intestinal problems and Aspie's are notoriously prone to intestinal issues. See a doctor before you do anything. It may turn out to be something easily corrected. Good luck.