Romani - the iron tablets that docs often prescribe are usually identical to the OTC kind (65 mg), so unless you are prescribed some exotic dose or formulation you can save yourself a lot of money by buying the OTC instead of prescription.
Romani - don’t go down the dark side…you have an appt next week and by now you are armed with questions and suggestions. This weekend focus on healthy eating, resting and maybe watch a couple funny movies.
I just looked up my son’s iron levels Pre supplements and then 3 months into the time released Slo fe. Also, get the scoop from your pharma regarding iron supplements as they are not all equally absorbed. We had to focus on a daily intake or conversation to “elemental” iron vs ferrous.
Pre iron hemoglobin 12.2
Post iron hemoglobin 14.2
Pre iron IRON test 30 (range 42-175 ug.dL
Post iron IRON test 128
They also tested his ferrous levels, but those were in range.
Scipio – somewhat ironically, it is often exactly the opposite because the co- pay is often lower than the OTC price.
@scipio several of my meds are available OTC. My docs prescribe them to see if insurance will cover them and if it doesn’t, I just buy OTC. But sometimes it does (like it covers my zantac but not prilosec).
These were my blood results (my result followed by standard range)
HGB : 12.1 g/dL 12.0 - 16.0 g/dL
HCT: 40.2 % 36.0 - 48.0 %
RBC: 5.26 M/uL 3.90 - 5.00 M/uL
Could your RBC be a little high because you are a little dehydrated? Do any medical posters know?
@DeniseC, yes that’s possible.
My guess is that you have what’s called ‘anemia of chronic disease’ which is totally different from iron-deficiency anemia. The RBC aren’t too small (like with iron deficiency) and the issue is felt to be more linked to iron transport from iron stores to red cells rather than other causes. If your iron stores are normal (which is often the case with ACD) then you may not need iron, or may need some other form. Something to think about if you think at all that the iron is causing an issue.
@jaylynn thank you for that. Do you happen to know what kind of treatments (if any) there are for “anemia of chronic disease”?
Usually, the anemia is not severe enough to be symptomatic; and unfortunately, the ‘treatment’ is usually just to treat the underlying condition as well as possible. It’s just felt to be kind of a marker/‘side effect’ of inflammation in general.
However, if you’re not having any obvious anemia symptoms and your blood count indices are generally normal, you could try a trial of d/c’ing any iron supplements and seeing if that helps or makes no difference (in which case you might want to stop it, since you’re on so many meds. Getting rid of some might be a good thing).
Okay, going to go on another tack, could it be stress? When this started, where you for example at the start of a semester and/or had lot going on? I can only speak for myself, but in recent months I have been under a lot of stress, work has been even moe nuts then it usually is, and I was having a lot of problems with elevated heart rate, feeling it, feeling palpitations and also feeling like it was irregular. Things have tailed off a bit at work, and I haven’t been experiencing it. Obviously as people have been suggesting, this could have a lot of physiological causes, too, but maybe the stress of everything is contributing to this. I know how scary that is, I am definitely not trivializing it, it scared the crap out of me when I was having that.
Nope. It was at the start of the summer, after the semester ended, and I was under probably the least amount of stress that I had been in years.
WHEN are you seeing an endocrinologist??
having a history of Graves disease, in your immediate family, should be sending off alarm bells!!i kid you NOT!
this CANT wait .
menlo, when they can get me in. Sometimes, specialists are slow. I’m waiting on my thyroid test results. If they’re alarming, I can probably get in more quickly.
I am used to this process by now. Things move slowly 
Just to follow-up, all thyroid tests came back completely normal. I’m still being referred to an Endo but the priority of my appointment just went down considerably
(Still waiting on iron results)
Glad the results were good! How are you feeling lately, @romanigypsyeyes?
Honestly, not great. I did have a stress episode while watching the debate on Sunday (yes, yes bad decision) where my heart rate went up over 150 again for a few hours.
I’ve also started having pain in the middle of my chest. It’s like a pressure, almost like my chest is too small to breath. I don’t know how else to describe it. It comes and goes without any pattern.
I have a follow-up with my PCP on Tuesday and I’m going to request to go to a different cardiologist. Mine seems competent but something just kind of feels “off” and I’ve learned to trust my gut with doctors.
Well, that response to that debate is totally understandable!!
Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well but glad you continue to push for answers. Never hurts to try a new doctor.
Take care of yourself and stay away from the stressful politics and news, as hard as that is right now.
romani, don’t let the craziness of politics stress you out! Either turn it off, or laugh and think, what next? It’s to the point of comical right now. Now that I’ve settled on voting for my dog (the older one, she has great leadership qualities and is very persistent—which is why we call her the honey badger…unfortunately she also doesn’t give a …), it’s a lot easier to watch this stuff like it’s just theatre. Don’t let it affect your health, just take care of yourself and don’t worry about it. Too bad you don’t drink, because it’s a lot easier sitting through this stuff with a glass or two of wine. 
Poor girl. Have you tried (with doc’s approval) any maneuvers to reduce your heart rate? I have successfully dropped mine with the Valsalva maneuver:
“Hold your breath and bear down in a strain (like if you’re constipated and straining to have a bowel movement). Do this for five seconds, then breathe. This changes the pressure in your chest and therefore in the big blood vessels in it. That fools your body into thinking your heart should slow down. If the pulse hasn’t slowed, try again.”
Here is one that is interesting, but might work “Ice-water facial: A little odd, I know, but if you have cold water (preferably ice water,) dip your face in it a few seconds. This stimulates your vagus nerve to slow your heart by causing what’s known as the dive reflex. It’s the same reflex that helps some people survive for a long time under cold water by slowing the body’s metabolism down”.
I can’t find the proper directions right now, but there is a slow breathing exercise that should work. It is a series of 4 or 5 long and slow inhales and exhales. (if interested google to see if it is in through the nose and out through the mouth or visa versa)
For me certain foods additives like sulfites/sulphites will trigger a delayed reaction of a very high heart rate that lasts for an hour or so. My worst offender is anything with containing the bottled or the plastic lemon/lime juice.
I hope you can get an appt with a new cardio. Are you keeping a daily food/meds/event log to look for patterns?
If it is in the budget, consider or borrow a fitbit HR because this provides a daily graph of HR. (just keep in mind that watches measure an average beat over 6 seconds, vs real time EKG.) But is is certainly interesting to view your HR activity. You can also select a timeframe to look at more closely.
^ Those are called vagal maneuvers bc they stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs along the spinal column. The maneuvers are used for a specific cardiac entity (SVT). Be careful if you use them on your own-- sometimes you can lower the heartrate (or blood pressure) too much and get faint-y. Deep breathing alone is much safer. I recommend one sometimes called ‘triangular breathing’-- five count inhale, five count hold, five count exhale. You’ll feel your HR dropping on the exhale. Some people so ‘square breathing’-- add a five count hold after the exhale (it’s not easy-- you might need to lower your internal count )