Mine is an autoimmune hemolytic anemia. I have plenty of iron. I just have a condition which causes some antibodies to attack to attack my red blood cells and destroy them. I’m hemolyzing all the time. At present, there is no cure, only treatment.
But, dadgum it makes it hard to not gain weight! I get up in the morning, wash the face, brush the teeth, get dressed, and think, “Now, that has worn me out!”
So, while in most cases I would agree that a person needs to cut out the carbs and increase exercise to lose weight, it isn’t always possible to do so. I have looked at ozempic and decided it doesn’t address my problem. Therefore, I will not take it. But, I need help to get this weight off.
I was tested mitochondrial antibodies that lead to hemolytic anemia. Fortunately negative. My capacity to bind iron is fine, but I was still not successfully capturing enough. My RBCs have a wide range from microcytes to anisocytes. Many of the RBCs just never mature into something useful. In spite of my best efforts, I still don't have a resolution. Perhaps getting the cancer removed will bring a resolution. Tuesday is surgery day.
My wife as been using Ozempic with a primary goal of lowering her A1C. As a Type 1 diabetic, the delayed gastric emptying presents a problem when her blood glucose drops to a critical low. Consuming glucose is also delayed putting her at risk for going from critical low to comatose. Not really a good risk vs reward.
I can certainly relate to the lack of energy that accompanies anemia. Just a little exercise and you feel wiped out. It's not a great situation when you live at 4600 ft elevation with somewhat less oxygen in the air. Normally, I had extra RBCs to compensate for the altitude. Not right now. It sucks.
I'm reminded that you can't out train a bad diet. If you eat too much, you can't burn enough with exercise to compensate. The washed out feeling from anemia feels a lot like low blood sugar. I think that leads to an attempt to "fix" the problem by eating. It's a miscue.
Good luck on your journey to keep enough RBCs to stay on the green side.