Raw lemons??

[BKreader]

Wow, I was anemic as well during both pregnancies. I never new there was a connection. I had heard about eating dirt and clay but not lemons.

[irish]

When I was pregnant with my first child I would sit and eat lemons with salt. I just craved them. I think that my body was needing something. I also get cravings or "pica" and ice is my craving. It is a symptom of having anemia and I had very low ferritin level at one time when I was eating the ice.

I also think that some of the stuff we crave is something that helps us with our dryness. If I don't keep on with my ice and slowly sipping liquids all day I am just parched. I have to have a sugar free cough drop in my mouth if I am not drinking. Can't go without something cause my throat just clamps up with the dryness. Good luck. IRish

[Belsey1]

Strange conversations.  I know it isn't lemons, but I have craved orange juice ever since having a hysterectomy almost four years ago.  Almost immediately following my surgery it began.  I would drink OJ  for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I didn't want anything else.  I sm sure i was anemic then...with all the events leading up to the surgery.  I still crave it today.  I buy at least two half gallon jugs at a time.  If I don't have it in the house I feel like someone in withdrawals......plus I have to have it over ice.  I don't eat the ice necessarily, but it has to be over ice. 

[irish]

I love orange juice with ice----plus add some diet MT Dew and it is very yummy. You are lucky that your stomach tolerates the OJ. I could never drink that much as it really tears up my stomach when I drink a lot of it. Sometimes I dilute it with carbonated water also. Irish

[Velcro]

My gyno told me that "what" you are craving is the body's way of telling you it's missing something.  She even told me she a patient that would eat dirt.  Wouldn't even eat her own yard dirt, but would drive to another county to get it because she said it tasted better.  Of course, the gyno had to make her stop that as it wasn't healthy for her, but she said it turned out her calcium was low and once they added calcium supplements, she stopped craving it.

[Bobbie]

I also eat an entire lemon every night.  I usually slice some to put in tonic water for my restless leg.  I crave tomato juice or preferrably V8 juice.  I could drink it all day, every day.  I am afraid if I drink too much I will break out.  So I try not to drink that much.  I crave it constantly though!!

I am also anemic with low ferritin levels.  I take iron and it goes back up to an acceptable range.   If I stop taking iron it takes a dump.

Bobbie 

[catherine1234]

Anemia! Okay let me check that one out. I have had so much blood work it seems odd that nobody would have checked for that especially seeing I do not eat white or red meat of any kind. Looking at my most recent workup, my RBC count is low at 3.72 M/CUMM. Is this significant enough to warrant anemia? What else should I be looking for??

[verythankfull]

I don't know if my rheumy would've checked for anemia except for me mentioning that my last two bloods labs were identical to when I was first diagnosed three years ago.  That, plus, I mentioned I've been a strict vegetarian for the last 30-31 years and a light kind of went off for the dr, so he added panels for folate and b-12 as well.  My pcp had been saying there was *no* way I was anemic, yet when the hematologist tested me I had only 7% of iron in my total blood volume, the shape of the red blood cells were distorted, my white blood cell count was through the roof and I was completely depleted of folate and b-12.  A 6 hour infusion has restored me until there's another lapse.

It could be worth asking a few questions about your low red blood cell count.  Having one autoimmune disease predisposes you to have another.  Sometimes low red cell count is associated with hemolysis (when something is destroying your blood cells or your body may isn't able to produce enough.)  Running labs would be the first step.  If you have a very high white blood cell count, a hematologist may request, as a last ditch effort to diagnose the type of anemia, a bone marrow biopsy.  Not fun, but generally one of the big things they look for is a Jak-2 (a type of autoimmune) abnormality.  That's the one that would flag if you're not able to produce enough red blood cells.  But that may be putting the cart before the horse...

By the time I'm seriously eating ice and peppermints, I need an iron infusion and I can't really correct things myself by taking vitamin supplements.  Like Belsey mentioned, too, lots of things deplete us.   

There's  was a lot of blood loss with my hysterectomy.  It was a really rough surgery, incl. organs having to be cut off of other organs due to growths from a stage 4 autoimmune disease.  I drank Ensure with every meal for a month (yuck!)  But the dr. said it would've taken me a lot longer to heal without it.  So, in a pinch, Ensure might help you feel a bit better until the dr. runs comprehensive blood studies. 

I'm just hoping you feel well soon--you certainly deserve it!

Take Care,
verythankfull

[Velcro]

I don't have my report in front of me Catherine, but my RBC count stays low, plus some other things are low?  Like my Lymphocytes and Neutrophils?

[catherine1234]

Yep, checked where my CBC one more time and it states at the bottom "This may represent an early or emerging anemia. Clinical correlation and continued follow up is recommended." Funny how none of the doctors pointed that out? Thank heavens I found you all! I am really learning to take control of this myself and not rely so much on my medical team catching things!!! There are pages of notes and this one never caught my eye before.

Time to start taking some iron supplements and put some more iron rich foods in my diet. It is not so easy when you do not meat and beans make my constipation worse. Good thing I love fatty fish and spinach!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!