Iron levels...beyond frustrated

I've always had low iron before surgery. Now my 2 year bloodwork says again it's very low (ferritin 3, forget what the other was). I moved to KW and TWH called me the other day to come in tuesday for iron infusion. I said I couldn't get to the city Tuesday as someone has to drive me. I was just there this Tuesday and honestly probably shouldn't driven myself the 5 hour round trip considering how awful I have been feeling.

I had a family doc appt the day after TWH called so I said I would see if I could get something here in Kitchener-Waterloo. No dice - doc says she'll send a referral to a hemotologist but it will take a very long time, 6 weeks minimum likely. They want me to get an IUD to stop my periods as soon as possible (they tend to be heavy) and I made an appointment next week.

I play phone tag with TWH for the past two days and can't get anyone to give me an answer if I can get a new infusion appt. Today someone calls me back and says ok we'll see if we can get you an appointment. No call back and of course now it's the long weekend.

Over the past ten days or so I have been experiencing symptoms of increasing severity ranging from vertigo to visual disturbances and feeling like passing out, muscle pain, stomach pain, chest pain etc. Can't sleep and then I will sleep very long stretches.

Anyway, I called telehealth last night because I was feeling so loopy and weak. They called back an hour later and said, go to the ER. I went and sat there for hours, finally leaving at 3am because it was too physically painful to sit in the waiting room chairs any more. They checked my vitals twice in the five hours I was there, did not seem to be too concerned, but obviously with triage I knew it was going to be long wait.

Is there anything else to do but just feel horribly sick and wea****il I get a call from TWH presumably Tuesday? I can't drive and my wife is worried I'm going to fall down and hurt myself so she's following me around like I'm made of glass.

Mine was 3 as well. I got my own doctor to refer me to the hospital for 3 iron infusions. You need to get this addressed asap. You can have serious complications from low iron. Good luck.

I'd go back to the er.

I would go to the E.R. in Guelph, as they are a bariatric center and may be more help! If not you will have to wait till next week. If you are looking for a long term solution closer to home, you may want to consider coming out to our support group meeting on May 28th from 1-4pm. St. James Anglican Church, 520 Ellis Rd. Cambridge, ON. Leona Dove will be our guest speaker that day. Leona is known as the Iron Maiden(www.theironmaiden.ca) and is a wealth of knowledge about iron difficiency and anemia and the bariatric patient. For more irformation about the meeting, check us out on Facebook: Waterloo/Wellington Gastric Bypass Support Group

Good Luck

What is your heamoglobin? If it is not c riticllly low you should be fine. Unfortunately you are unlikely to get infusion as emergency. If you are feeling unwell you will need to go back to er. Going to an er with a bariatric clinic will help.

Once feeling better see if youcan get a referral closer to home. I need to go every 2 months. Luckly my local hospital oncology dept does it.