Back toUpdated on October 25, 2024
Iron deficiency anemia, or IDA, is when you have too few healthy red blood cells due to an iron deficiency. In this video, Carolyn shares her IDA diagnosis story and common symptoms associated with this condition.
Transcript
A dog bite might have saved my life, because my doctor found out that I had IDA.
My boyfriend and I were walking my dog around the neighborhood. And another dog came up and actually attacked my dog.
And I got bit in the process of getting them off each other, and that's what led me to the doctor. They did blood tests, and I actually
found out that I had iron-deficiency anemia. It was definitely surprising at first. But when my doctor was initially talking about the symptoms,
I realized that I had a lot of them. I lost almost half of my hair, and I had to chop it off short.
My drain in the shower would just be so clogged all the time. It's normal to have some hair loss when
you wash your hair and stuff. But I was like, this is kind of excessive. | was cold all the time, especially, like, my hands and feet.
I was sleeping more than nine hours a day, I would say even 10 to 11 on average. I went back to my doctor several different times
to get my blood tested. And then we adjusted the dosage of iron pills that I needed to take until my iron levels were
at a sufficient level. I got support for my IDA through my YouTube channel. I actually filmed my journey from the start through YouTube.
And I have had a lot of people comment and saying, "Oh, I'm going through the same problems myself." And so it's really nice to talk to them and get support.
After I was helped by my doctor, my day-to-day life has definitely improved.
I make sure that I get a lot of iron-rich foods in my diet. I have a lot more self-confidence
because I have my hair back. When I realized that I was losing my hair, I didn't realize that I just needed
