My last appointment with the hematologist I was seeing was at the beginning of this month, July 2020. While I’m happy that I no longer have to go to her for regular appointments, I was surprised since my iron was worse at my last appointment. My belief is that she didn’t want to keep seeing me if I was not going to take iron supplements or infusions. This doctor was one of the most unhelpful that I’ve seen.
In March, I had run out of my regular calcium supplements. All I could find at the store at that time were calcium supplements that contained vitamin D as well. I had always steered clear of those since my multivitamin contained vitamin D. I also got vitamin D from the occasional consumption of fish and fortified foods. I felt like I was getting enough vitamin D from these sources. However, since that was all that was available, I thought I would give it a try to see how things went. It was a bottle of 120 tablets which should last around four months.
The first day taking the calcium supplement with vitamin D, I didn’t tell a difference either way. I didn’t feel better or worse. I decided to continue taking it. Over time, I didn’t notice feeling any different. However, I was continuing to break out in acne. I started having breakouts which I believed were due to perimenopause and had started taking a menopause supplement. It did seem like my acne was worse than before I started the supplement or was at least as bad. I just assumed the breakouts were due to the supplement not working (or perhaps making things worse) or due to perhaps getting closer to actual menopause. I just wasn’t sure.
I had my blood drawn to have my CBC and iron checked the week before my appointment. During the time between my blood draw and my appointment, I took the last calcium + vitamin D tablet. I had recently bought another bottle of calcium supplements at the store. This time I bought tablets that only contained calcium. The store had gotten in more bottles, and since I didn’t notice any positive difference from the extra vitamin D, I just assumed my body didn’t need that extra amount. I decided that I would just go back to the calcium supplement I was using previously. The day I got the results of my blood work, I had just started taking the calcium tablets without vitamin D.
When I got back the results, I was shocked to see that my iron had gotten worse. My ferritin was once again below the level of detection, and my percent saturation was also low. Other results appeared to be normal. My CBC did not show that I was anemic. I started to think about the things that had changed since my January results, where everything, including my ferritin, was normal. I had started taking the menopause supplement in January. In addition to the calcium + vitamin D supplement in March, I began taking a 5-HTP supplement. I was no longer taking a prescription antidepressant, and I thought the 5-HTP supplement would be a suitable replacement. Both the menopause supplement and the 5-HTP supplement made me feel better upon taking the first dose. By contrast, the calcium + vitamin D did nothing. When I researched online, I found an article that seemed to indicate that vitamin D supplementation can interfere with iron utilization. I wondered if the calcium with vitamin D caused my iron issues this time. I did notice I felt better after going back to the calcium supplement without vitamin D.
I had my appointment with the hematologist as a telehealth appointment. She was over 30 minutes late for the appointment. During the appointment, she repeatedly asked me about my energy levels. I think she wanted me to admit that I didn’t feel well. Of course I felt tired at times but due to reasons that I was almost completely certain had nothing to do with my iron levels. She asked about heart palpitations as well. My issues with visual motion cause my heart rate to increase because of a stress response. Of course, she was the last person with whom I wanted to discuss those issues, so I just told her that I had none that were unexplained. I tried to tell her multiple times that I believed I knew what caused the issue with my iron this time and that I would like a recheck sometime down the road to see if things were better. Instead of listening to me, she just asked me again about iron supplements and iron infusions, which I of course had to refuse yet again. In the end, she just decided to stop seeing me. She did say that my primary care doctor could have me make another appointment if needed. She never even addressed my idea of a recheck. I decided to order my own blood work in a few months to check on things myself. My plan is to fax the results to the hematologist if things are better and explain my experience with the calcium + vitamin D supplement. If I actually do need to see a hematologist again in the future, I plan to ask my primary care doctor for a referral to someone else.
I never wanted to see a hematologist. I was in a Facebook group for iron deficiency anemia a few years ago, and there was a doctor who participated in that group. He seemed so closed-minded when it came to other nutrients or issues that could cause iron-deficiency anemia. To me, it seemed like he thought iron supplementation was the only answer. I knew he was a doctor that I would never want to see. When my iron levels got extremely low and my anemia had become severe due to mistakes I had made with my diet and supplements in 2017 and 2018, my primary care doctor wanted me to see a hematologist. Because of the issues I had discovered with copper, zinc, iron, and vitamin E and the seeming ignorance of doctors, I did not expect things to go well. It turned out I was right, at least for the most part. There was a nurse practitioner at the office who was actually very nice and seemed open-minded. Unfortunately, I had to see the regular doctor along with her, and she was pretty much the exact opposite. She didn’t know the RDA for iron, which I had to explain, and she was concerned about me doubling up on a multivitamin that contained fat-soluble vitamins because she was worried about the levels becoming toxic. However, she never seemed worried about the toxicity of iron supplements or infusions! Besides, I had taken two multivitamins a day for several months in the past and never noticed issues. When everything except my ferritin was normal at one point last year, I was actually pleased with the progress I was making. Even though my ferritin was still low, it was better than it had been. However, all she could focus on was the low ferritin and kept wanting to push the iron supplements and infusions. When my ferritin was worse this last time and I knew I’d be seeing her, I seriously considered canceling the appointment and not rescheduling it. This did not seem like the right thing to do, and I came up with the idea to tell her that I felt I knew the cause and that I wanted to be rechecked in a few months or when she felt it would be appropriate. My expectations that this might somehow go over well ended up being too high. This doctor has to be one of the most unhelpful that I’ve ever seen. I’ve been aggravated by other doctors not really doing all it took to investigate and figure out root causes, but I never felt like they weren’t listening to me or considering my ideas. This one seemed pretty closed-minded compared to other doctors I’ve seen. I’m glad to be done with seeing her.
As of this writing, my acne has cleared significantly. I’m also feeling better. I truly do believe the calcium + vitamin D supplement caused my acne to worsen and caused my iron to get worse. My hope is that things continue to improve and that things will be normal or at least a lot closer to it when I have my levels checked again. I’m also glad that I no longer have to see the hematologist. While I hope to be able to send her improved results to file with my records there, I also hope, if it turns out that the calcium + vitamin D supplement caused the issues, that she will consider that I was right about what caused my iron levels to worsen and that she would be willing to consider that high-dose iron supplements or infusions might not be what other patients need. They were certainly not what I needed and actually made things worse for me.
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