I see a lot of anemia in my practice. I see even more iron-overload, which is why I often recommend blood donation to my patients, as I wrote about here.
The big problem with anemia today is that patients are confused as to what is causing it.
They think it's about iron.
Rarely is it about iron. Why? Because unless you are losing or have lost a lot of blood, there's very little chance that you are in fact deficient in iron.
What nutrients do you need to produce new red blood cells?
Vitamin A
Copper
B-6
B-12
Folate (B-9)
Vitamins C and E
Iron
Deficiencies of any of these can cause anemia.
Rarely do I see any single one of these factors as the cause of anemia. Typically, someone has a combination of factors contributing to their anemia.
The first mistake people make is thinking that their anemia is due to just one thing. Just because you have a low iron level, doesn’t mean you have normal copper, vitamin A, B-6, B-12, or folate levels. If you take for granted that these are normal, you will miss contributing factors to an anemia.
The consequences of wrongly concluding that anemia is due to “one thing” can be severe. Low levels of the nutrients we need to make red blood cells frequently contribute to fatigue, brain fog, frequent infections, and premature death and disability. This is why proper functional medicine testing and treatment is invaluable.
Beyond what you eat, there are other factors that affect your blood. Doctors documented long ago that light stimulated red blood cell production, which is why I recommend red and infrared light therapy to all of my patients.
The second mistake people make is thinking that they can just do regular blood testing to figure out what they're deficient in. This is a big mistake. Many serum levels (blood levels) miss deficiencies that are going on inside of cells. This is why we may use hair, urine, white blood cell, or red blood cell levels of nutrients to judge deficiency or adequacy.
Most doctors don’t realize this, which leads them to miss nutritional deficiencies in case after case. This is why working with a properly trained clinician is vital to actually understanding why you have an anemia. Most doctors won’t order any of these alternative tests for anemia at all, leaving patients with inadquate information and often with the wrong treatments.
The third mistake people make is to ignore their gut health. If your gut isn't functioning properly, you may not absorb the nutrients you need to make new red blood cells. This is why we use comprehensive stool testing in many cases to determine if someone’s gut isn’t working optimally.
There are many things we can do to support proper gut health, and therefore red blood cell production. Many patients wonder why they’ve been taking supplements, receiving IV nutrients, and more, and yet are still anemic after years and years of treatment.
How do you avoid these mistakes?
You work with a qualified practitioner. You order the proper testing. The number of patients who come to me who have received either inadequate testing, the wrong testing, or an incorrect interpretation of their testing is staggering.
You can schedule a consult with my team here.
Don't wonder about what to do for anemia. Work with one of my team, get the proper testing, get real answers, and find out what you need to do to overcome your anemia today.
Schedule a consultation today.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman