Or, Sue, if he keeps pooh-poohing his own symptoms, he may end up doing that to his patients! Naw, you wouldn't right?

Hi, Tyson.

Iron deficiency anemia progresses in three phases.

First, your iron stores, reflected by your ferritin, decreases. If your CRP is high, like I believe yours is, it can make ferritin look even higher than it really is. If your ferritin is low, this is the point most good doctors will do what is called an "anemia profile" which normally includes things like serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin saturation, etc. Some will even run a B12 and folic acid level.

Second, Your red blood cell count goes below normal.

Third, your hemoglobin goes below normal.

Again, I would encourage you to get copies of your lab results. If they won't release them to you, maybe they would release them to your Aunt. You need to start seeing and understanding what doctors test you for.

Have your doctors recommended that you take Calcium and Vitamin D every day (I seem to recall that they did). What about flax or fish oil, due to the Pred? What about a multi-vitamin with iron?

Sometimes you have to take sensible supplements when you are on certain drugs. Vitamin C helps absorb iron but do not take iron (if you take an extra supplement of it) and Calcium at the same time (calcium keeps the iron from absorbing).

Annie

BTW, your disease is lame, NOT you!!!!