Labs first
A complete blood count, ferritin and iron studies, so treatment matches what your body actually needs.
Sound familiar?
Running on empty, every month.
- You plan your days around your period.
- You change protection through the night, or pass clots.
- You’re exhausted, worst in the week of your period.
- Stairs leave you out of breath.
- More hair in the brush or the shower drain.
- Cold hands and feet, even indoors.
- You crave ice to chew.
What’s happening in your body
Where the iron goes.
Blood is rich in iron. Lose more each month than you take in, and the shortfall works its way through your body.
- Heavy bleedingSoaking through protection quickly, passing clots, or bleeding for longer than you used to.
- Iron leaves with the bloodMonth after month, more iron goes out than comes in.
- Ferritin fallsFerritin is your iron savings. It empties first, often while your blood count still looks normal.
- Hemoglobin followsWith too little iron, your body makes less hemoglobin, the protein in red cells that carries oxygen.
- You feel itFatigue, breathlessness, hair shedding, cold hands and feet, and poor focus.
The evidence
What the research shows.
Published averages
IV iron corrected anemia from heavy bleeding more often than pills.
Published averages
Low iron is common, and how common depends on the cut-off.
What we do
Labs, IV iron, and the reason behind it.
A physician visit
Your history, your cycle and your symptoms, and a plan built on your results.
IV iron infusions in clinic
Iron given straight into the vein, in our clinic, watched by our team. For many people it refills stores faster than pills, without the stomach upset.
Finding the cause
Iron replaces what was lost; it does not stop the bleeding. Heavy bleeding needs a gynecologic evaluation, and we refer you when you need one.
What waiting costs
What waiting costs.
- Pills are slower and less complete. In heavy-bleeding anemia, oral iron corrected it in half of women; IV iron in nearly three in four, with greater gains in vitality and less fatigue.Van Wyck DB, et al. Transfusion 2009 · PMID 19682342
- About one in five women aged 25 to 54 has ferritin under 25 ng/mL, low enough for red-cell production to suffer.Barton JC, et al. JAMA Network Open 2024 · PMID 38848068
- Low iron without an obvious cause can mean bleeding elsewhere. About a third of men and post-menopausal women with iron-deficiency anemia have an underlying problem, most often in the gut.Snook J, et al. (British Society of Gastroenterology) Gut 2021 · PMID 34497146
Questions
Common questions
How do I know if my periods are heavy?
If they get in the way of your life: changing protection through the night, passing clots, flooding, or periods lasting longer than they used to. Your physician will ask, and your blood tests will show what it is costing you.
Why IV iron instead of pills?
Pills suit many people, but they are slow and often upset the stomach. In women with anemia from heavy bleeding, IV iron corrected the anemia in 73%, against 50% with pills. Your physician decides with you.
Is IV iron safe?
In that trial there were no serious adverse drug events. Reactions to IV iron can still happen, which is why every infusion is given in our clinic with our team watching.
Will you find out why I’m bleeding?
That is part of the plan. Iron treats the shortage, not the bleeding. Heavy periods need a gynecologic evaluation, and we refer you when you need one.
Decide today
Stop running on empty.
Labs, IV iron in clinic, and an answer to why it happened.
Educational, not medical advice. A physician makes the final decision at your visit. Not for emergencies: call 911.