u/dandeliondearest

Hi all. I’ll try to make this short. I got an iron infusion 8 months ago and it’s made my life a living hell. I’m not saying that to discourage anyone, because I’m pretty sure it’s other factors playing into it, but I just want to get others opinions because my doctors are stumped. Iron infusions have never done me wrong prior to this and have been a great help with my anemia. I think I’m a rare case here. I’ve had iron infusions in the past because I deal with chronic anemia. All of them went fine up until this one. Between this one, and the one I got before that two years prior, I developed histamine issues I thought was just from hormonal fluctuations since it was slowly calming down before this.

After my infusion, everything’s gone downhill. The first few months, a trip to Walmart, walking around for maybe an hour and a half to grocery shop, felt like I did the most intense core workout. It would take days to get over it. To preface, before this, I walked universal studios from open to close and the only thing that was sore was my feet. My histamine issues came back full force, and so did my hormonal issues. The soreness lasted months, and has only recently gotten better, but I am still nowhere close to where I was. I get overexerted so easily and I get muscle aches frequently, along with cramps when I never had any issues previously. If I even sleep with my leg extended I wake up with deep soreness.

Another thing is inflammation. I have so many issues with inflammation now. Tmj being exacerbated, I’ve gained unexplained weight despite not doing anything different in my diet or routine, I’m constantly swollen looking. If I get any sort of inflammation, I overreact. For example, I had ONE folliculitis bump at random. No sign of infection. No redness, no visible swelling or discharge. Yet my whole upper arm where it is sore to move and my lymph node is swollen and sore. If I even hurt a muscle under my skin doing something, the area above it gets red and hot for a while.

I’m stumped. My hematologist doesn’t acknowledge anything I say despite all of this starting directly after my infusion with no other triggers. My allergist doesn’t know what to tell me besides for the actual histamine issues like my hives or dermatographia. My PCP doesn’t know what to look for. I’ve done tests for autoimmune issues before but everything came back fine (prior to the infusion). I’m just wondering has anything similar happened to anyone after an infusion? Surely it has to have some underlying cause, or exacerbated something in my system, because I’ve never had anything issues like this before, or at least not to this extent. Thank you for taking the time to read if you made it this far.

Hi all! My mom has been Cdiff free for about 50 days now! After three months and three rounds of antibiotics, as well as being set up to take Vowst if this kept going, her symptoms subsided! Now that we’re a couple of months out from symptoms, she’s been slowly trying to fix her diet while keeping up her gut health and strengthening her microbiome as best as she can. The first “wild” food she tried on a whim was only a couple of weeks ago, and it was a McDonald’s hamburger (we had gone to a concert together, it was super late and the only thing open, and she just said to hell with it lol). It only gave her a bit of stomach ache and maybe a little queasiness after but nothing crazy or debilitating, so that gives us a bit of hope! We’re going on vacation soon, and she can’t just cook baked chicken and her usual FODMAP compliant sides in a hotel room, so what do you all suggest here? Are digestive enzymes helpful? She’s a little more sensitive to lactose which makes any substantial probiotics hard (she had drank kefir during her infection and ate yogurt but now it just gives her some issues with the post-infection ibs), so will something like Lactaid help with the dairy aspect? Any recommendations on foods that are good in-between foods? Thank you all for reading if you got this far, and for any tips you may provide!