I have a history of anemia and my daughter has been having extremely low iron & saturation.

She has taken 2 different types of iron in the last 6 months with no improvement. She has seen a hematologist who looked at her bloodwork and health history, asked a few questions and prescribed a 3rd type of iron supplement. If that doesn’t help, he will want to do an infusion. If that doesn’t help, and because he has no other explanation for why the iron is low, he assumes heavy periods are the sole cause so step 3 will be to try to get the body to slow the flow.

First let me say this was the first mainstream doctor I’ve seen in decades who believes we should try to get the body to work for itself first. I respect that approach very much and appreciate his line of reasoning. However – and it’s a big however – he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

What I chose not to tell him (because it was unnecessary for what we wanted to accomplish) is that I know some things about iron too, which I’ve learned from 4 other doctors because my daughter has all of these issues.

1. Parasites feed off iron. High parasite loads can cause severe anemia. And when you feed the body iron, it often doesn’t go to the body, it goes to the parasites, which then increase significantly.
2. Mold exposure causes mycotoxins in the body which interferes with heme production, which slows down red blood cells and leads to anemia.
3. Heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) is a specific gene that in rare cases can mutate to cause anemia.
4. High oxalates may cause anemia that is difficult to treat.
5. High tin (Sn) levels can cause anemia.

I’m learning to get what I want without confrontation and frustration. The bottom line is that the hematologist is only needed should we decide to do an iron infusion.

I don’t need him to understand what the other doctors have diagnosed and are treating. I don’t need to follow up with more invasive treatment with which we don’t agree. The goal is simply iron infusion as needed.

Believe me I would love to educate him and every other doctor on the various diagnosis’ and treatments we’ve done over the years. But it’s not their wheelhouse. And quite frankly, those doctors who aren’t already going down that road don’t want to even know another road exists.

Yes it’s frustrating. And I pray our country starts to align our medical system with these out of the box doctors who find true solutions. But we aren’t there yet.

So where do we go from here?

After seeing the hematologist, we met with one of the other doctors and decided that any iron would be counterproductive right now. Instead the focus is first on reducing oxylates & tin and turning off the hmox1 gene.

She has other deficiencies that need to be addressed so that her body can accept iron better. This includes low vitamins C and most of the B’s. However her body doesn’t absorb these easily so supplementation needs to be slow and through specific sources.

You will not find this type of treatment protocol through mainstream medicine. Insurance covers none of it. Juggling dietary constraints and needs can be overwhelming. But it’s a long term fix that will improve her overall health and allow her to move forward with next steps in treatment.

Whatever you are facing right now in your health journey- answers are out there. I’m not a fan of our medical system and feel sad for the doctors who don’t even realize they are missing the opportunity to really help their patients by not prescribing medications and considering what’s happening at the core of the body.

DNA is a great tool for identifying gene mutations that may be causing inability to detox or absorb specific nutrients.

There is some relatively inexpensive testing that can provide a picture of what the body is either holding onto, not absorbing or not processing well.

Basic diet changes (utilizing both of the above tools) can bring about change that modern medicine will never do.

I highly encourage anyone struggling to find answers to start there. Below are links for who we have been using. There are others – find the right fit for you.

Tree of Life Health

Doctors Data Elements Testing

Mosaic Diagnostics OAT Test

Lastly, I want to say that it’s easy to panic when something is really wrong. My daughters iron and saturation are considered “alert low” which causes the doctors to be really concerns (which makes me really concerned).

And there may be a need for intervention at times. But it’s also ok to take the time to talk with different doctors who have different views on what’s going on. It’s ok to consider all of the factors involved and choose a treatment path with which most doctors don’t agree.

Get the full picture.

Spend some time analyzing all the data.

Trust your gut.