“My mother’s anemia symptoms seem to be getting worse, but her vitals are normal?”
My mother has been sick for a good 3 to 4 months now. She has anemia, she’s been given iron supplements to take. She says she feels dizzy sometimes, like her heart is beating really fast, headaches. She also has said that she feels a weird sensation going from her neck travelling to her head. She has gone to a cardiologist and they said there is nothing wrong with her heart. Her head has been scanned and nothing is wrong with her head or brain either. We called an ambulance for her once when she said she felt like she ways dying, the ambulance workers came and checked her vitals and said her vitals were fine. She was doing okay a few weeks ago but a couple days ago she got worse. My grandmother told me that she realized that my mother gets worse when she has her period. Is it common for your vitals to show up as normal when you have anemia? Can anemia have an affect on the heart or the brain that a doctor can see? Or is it common for a doctor to not detect a problem in those areas for a person with anemia?
Female | 37 years old
Complaint duration: 4 months
Medications: Iron supplements, dizziness meds
Conditions: Anemia
2 Answers
Dr. Eric Scofield
Hematologist-Oncologist
For your heart rate to go up and blood pressure to drop from anemia, the anemia has to be severe and sudden. The body has a wonderful way of compensating over time and adjusting to lower levels of hemoglobin in the blood. You did not report your mothers hemoglobin or iron/ferritin/transferrin saturation levels. The iron pills should help if she is truly iron deficient. Some people cannot absorb oral iron and may end up needing intravenous iron infusions.
Anemia is usually caused by iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can be caused by blood loss in the stool as well as loss from menstruation. Depending on her level of anemia, she could have weakness and headaches and a fast heart rate. Severe anemia could cause trouble thinking. These are the effects on the heart and brain that do not show up on tests of those organs. She may need to have more iron replacement. If that doesn't work, she should see a hematologist.
