13 Signs/Symptoms Of Iron Deficiency That You Can Detect At Home

Dr. Siobhan Deshauer is back, this time with at-home anemia diagnostics:

Isn’t it ironic?

Here are 13 signs/symptoms* of when your blood is just not irony enough.

*sign = knowable from the outside by an observer, symptom = knowable by you from the inside in terms of what you can experience. So for example, pallor is a sign, and fatigue is a symptom.

Why 13, when the video itself says 14? It’s because one of the items in Dr. Deshauer’s list is “increased stroke risk” which is neither a sign nor a symptom, but rather is a potential consequence. As such, increased stroke risk (especially if you don’t go on to actually have a stroke) can hardly be used to detect low iron.

Without further ado, here are the 14 items, including the one that we’re discounting:

1. Pallor: skin, eyelids, and palm creases appear unusually pale due to low hemoglobin.
2. Fatigue: low oxygen delivery from reduced hemoglobin causes exhaustion and shortness of breath.
3. Koilonychia: fingernails become thin, concave, and spoon-shaped.
4. Pica: unusual cravings to eat non-food items, especially ice, dirt, chalk, or starch.
5. Atrophic glossitis: smooth, shiny, and burning tongue due to loss of surface papillae.
6. Beeturia: red or pink urine after eating beets, occurring more frequently in iron-deficient individuals.
7. Angular cheilitis: painful cracking or inflammation at the corners of the mouth from impaired skin repair.
8. Skin infections: increased susceptibility to fungal (like ringworm, which is not actually a worm!) and bacterial infections due to weakened immune defenses.
9. Restless Legs Syndrome: urge to move the legs, especially at night, linked to low brain iron even with normal blood iron levels.
10. Depression: mood changes and emotional issues due to decreased dopamine and serotonin production.
11. Stroke risk: counterintuitively higher platelet counts from iron deficiency can increase the risk of blood clots and strokes. Good luck using this to diagnose anemia, though.
12. Itchiness: chronic itching from nerve sensitivity and dry skin caused by low iron.
13. Hair thinning: hair loss due to slowed hair follicle cell turnover requiring iron.
14. Dark circles under eyes: pale skin reveals veins more clearly, leading to dark under-eye circles.

For more on all of these plus visual illustrations where applicable, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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Avoiding Anemia (More Than Just “Get More Iron”)

Take care!