Case 1. Safinaz, the mother of our Nurse Hamide, applied with weakness and shortness of breath. He had severe iron deficiency and was planned to have a pacemaker implanted due to a rhythm problem in his heart.
Normally, our colleagues approach such cases immediately with emergency blood transfusion. Hemoglobin was 6. This signified a serious loss that was exactly half of the ideal.
We chose to start him on intravenous iron. We postponed the investigation of iron loss in the body until later. We give 1000 mg approximately every other day for five days to saturate the total iron storage. With IV Iron Sucrose administration, the heart rhythm returned to normal and there was no need to insert a pacemaker.
His shortness of breath and fatigue improved immediately.
Now it was time to investigate the gastrointestinal foci. I left the private hospital where I was working at the time, of my own volition, due to my illness. But they forgot about the examination that should have been done for their mother because there was no problem in her mother. Exactly one year later, they came to the new private clinic where I worked. The mother was anemic again. Among the documents, the endoscopy request papers that I had written a year ago appeared. We recovered in the same way with IV iron. Then, in the scan we had, a tumor focus was detected that was causing secret bleeding in the area we call the Cecum in the right large intestine.
The surgery went well and thankfully there was no spillage. There was no tumor recurrence problem for about ten years.
Approximately ten years later, following surgery for a hip fracture, an embolism to the lung occurred, which is the most common cause of death in these patients. He survived the first one. Then the fracture recurred. He was taken into surgery again. This time the embolism occurred and unfortunately we lost our patient.
The point we want to emphasize in this case is that many extra clinical problems resolve spontaneously after IV iron. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, allergies are very rare. Think about it, how can we prevent the transmission of a virus that has not yet been detected in that blood?
We know that many patients were infected with such viruses during operational procedures before Hepatitis and Aids viruses were identified. For example, when bypass operations first began to be performed, Hepatitis C virus did not exist by definition, and we know that this virus was transmitted to patients through blood transfusion at a rate of 20%.
In order for our physicians to act more consciously on this issue, I think it is important that they act in favor of intravenous iron administration in cases of typical iron losses.
Case 2. Osman Bey lived in Kastamonu. He constantly went to the doctor when he was tired, but the anemia tablets he was given were of no use and he could never get better. For ten years he tried to survive in his hometown as if he were dead. A young doctor who had recently arrived in his hometown suggested that he do research in a larger city. There were no pathological results in the examination other than pure iron deficiency and B12 deficiency.
Our patient was the father of the chief of the Bakırköy Mufti Office. No one had examined him, so when I opened his abdomen, I saw a surgery scar in the midline and asked him why he had this scar. It turns out that he had stomach surgery twenty years ago. According to what he said, a part of his stomach was cut off and the rest was stitched to the intestine, that’s all he knew.
The matter was understood. Iron absorption was not possible due to previous stomach operations, and this explained why all the iron tablets given orally did not work. Gastroscopy was still performed. There was also an ulcer in the insertion line, which we call anastomosis.
Likewise, he recovered immediately with IV iron and IM B12 applications. The ulcer healed.
However, there is a detail in this case. Blood tests would be done at regular intervals and iron and B12 needs would be planned accordingly. Because there is always the possibility of recurrence of anemia. He lived healthily and trouble-free for many years with monthly IV iron and IM B12 injections.
In some of these cases, low blood sugar also occurs. Our uncle Osman did not experience this. However, he did not experience this because he did not like foods that were healthy and raised blood sugar. We have cases that experience this, and we help them by giving them Acarbose or Miglitol, which are effective on postprandial sugar. Because the sudden increase in sugar entering the small intestine triggers hypoglycemia with sudden insulin discharge, and we can overcome this by preventing the increase in postprandial sugar.
Case 3. Ms. Hatice sews the costumes of a famous artist. She is dying of exhaustion. Sounds extremely anemic to me. Hemoglobin was 5. According to She, even if she takes a box of iron pills, it won’t help.
She has had a stomach surgery before. We treated him with IV iron without giving any blood. According to her husband, their house is on the 6th floor and his wife always carries him on his back to their house. It was very good. However, in this case, the woman has a detail. Whenever we administered iron, she would immediately lose the blood she had supplied through menstruation and had to take IV iron frequently.
Something caught our attention here. If there was a focus in the uterus that was prone to bleeding, such as a myoma, that area would revitalize and bleed as it received iron after IV iron. We detected this in our other female cases, and we minimized this loss by giving cycle-regulating tablets, i.e. pills, containing a mixture of mild estrogen and balanced progesterone to those who had no problems during their examinations. Those who had problems in their examinations were investigated. Sometimes uterine wall thickening can be pathological, so it would be appropriate to clarify the diagnosis with a tissue sample.
He is also under regular follow-up and is very healthy.
Case 4. This case is also a woman. Ms. Şükran is a lover of complementary medicine and frequently undergoes cupping and leech treatments. He was taking some detox programs, such as long-term fasting and water-only diet, which I do not approve of or participate in. Of course he came to me with malaise. We say that the image is like the soul, that’s exactly what it is. Hemoglobin 4 iron 1. How can it survive, wonder? It’s like a living dead…
She has low iron, low B12, low vitamin D, thyroid sluggishness, early menopause for her age, and high FSH level of 38. Estrogen was also low, meaning less than 20. I explained that I did not find the ideas and treatment regimens of the therapist he went to reasonable and that he was malnourished (starving) so there was no intake. Besides, how can you survive when there is so much loss? I expressed my views by saying there is no such thing as health. Why are newlyweds who have not had children yet, because they have early menopause and cannot menstruate?
After IV iron IM B12 and IM vitamin D and some antioxidant medications, she was fine, and when she started menstruating, FSH was 12 and estrogen was 138. She became pregnant in the first month after.
At the check-up, I was just saying how successful the treatment was and that this is real health, when suddenly he said in a strange manner: Yes, you cured me of anemia, that is true, but you did not say good things about my teacher (referring to the former therapist) and I got angry with you, I do not want this child either. Moreover, he reacted by saying things like “I’m not happy with you at all” by saying “your medicines have increased my appetite” and then he stood up next to me and left.
His wife called later and when I met with him, I told him that it would be good for him to get psychiatric support. I had seen such atypical reactions before. An anorexia patient to whom we applied serum could say such atypical words as “Uncle doctor, take out the serum, look, I’ve gained weight!”
For some women, the obsession with staying fit makes it difficult to adopt the right health-related treatment with such rejectionist and contradictory approaches. That’s when you observe how iron deficiency and B12 deficiency affect psychic faculties.
Case 5. This is a lady from our neighbors. He was suffering from anemia but could not tell me because of his shyness. Another neighbor lady finally reaches me through my wife.
She has active bleeding hemorrhoids, excessive and frequent menstrual bleeding, does not consume red meat, and avoids taking medications. When you look at it in general, it is a difficult and problematic case. At that time, he was very vocal in the neighborhood we lived in and we witnessed his constant controversial behavior. When she was treated and recovered, there was no trace left of that pugnacious lady and her name became “Melek” for her neighbors.
I wanted to emphasize this here. Iron deficiency can cause extreme hatred and irritability, just like the situation of those who are in trouble. A truly effective iron supplement can improve family ties between spouses.
Case 6. She was one of our nurses. You know his perspective in those old times by saying that they did this to me because I wore hijab. He explained that they transferred him from Algology to Psychiatry in the institution where he worked. He was very obsessed with this injustice, in his opinion, and was constantly crying and asking for help. When the clinic was called, they did not want to give any information, saying that transfer to the psychiatry service was deemed more appropriate.
There was extreme fatigue. He was depressed. During the examinations, we detected autoimmune diseases in many places (thyroid joints, stomach adrenal). With treatment, a positive temperament developed. Levels became optimal by administering IV iron intravenously and B12 and vitamin D intramuscularly. Because in addition to his iron deficiency, which was severe enough to deeply affect his psychology, he also had additional deficiency symptoms in many organs, and his energy was very low. But that’s all behind us now.
He filed a lawsuit. We gave him an article stating that such psychic problems are related to organic diseases, and justice was served and he returned to his old favorite clinic. They also understood their mistakes by understanding their friends.
Blood is Life. Life energy is carried by oxygen in our blood. There is iron in the structure that carries it, and it is attached to the Hemoglobin atoms in the red blood cells. Hemoglobin cannot be without iron and blood cannot be produced without it. Of course, this is not the only condition. More factors are effective in the production of blood. Lack of blood can cause many different symptoms. Let’s have our blood measured and consult our specialist.
