@thestomachdoc: Weird signs you could be low in iron. Iron deficiency doesn’t always show up as feeling tired. Sometimes the symptoms are so unusual that you wouldn’t even think to connect them to low iron. • Craving ice to chew on: Called pagophagia, a form of pica that’s strongly associated with iron deficiency. • Restless legs at night: Low iron can affect dopamine signaling in the brain, contributing to uncomfortable leg sensations and the urge to move them. • Hair shedding: Iron is important for normal hair growth, and low iron stores may contribute to excessive hair loss. • Brittle or spoon-shaped nails: Severe or prolonged iron deficiency can cause nails to become thin, fragile, or curved inward. • Shortness of breath walking upstairs: Iron is needed to make hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout your body. • Cold hands and feet: Iron-deficiency anemia can reduce oxygen delivery to tissues, leaving you feeling cold. • Heart racing: Your heart may beat faster to compensate for reduced oxygen-carrying capacity. • A sore, smooth tongue: Iron deficiency can affect the tissues lining your mouth, causing inflammation and loss of the tiny bumps on your tongue. • Cracks at the corners of your mouth: Also called angular cheilitis, which can occur with iron and certain vitamin deficiencies. • Persistent headaches and fatigue: Reduced oxygen delivery can leave you feeling exhausted, weak, dizzy, or struggling to concentrate. One important tip: Ask about checking your ferritin, not just your blood count. Ferritin helps measure your body’s iron stores, which can become depleted before anemia develops. And as a gastroenterologist, here’s something I want people to understand: Iron-deficiency anemia in men and postmenopausal women needs evaluation for possible gastrointestinal blood loss. Conditions like stomach ulcers, celiac disease, colon polyps, and colorectal cancer can sometimes cause slow, hidden bleeding or poor iron absorption without obvious digestive symptoms. If you have unexplained iron deficiency, don’t just take iron supplements without finding out why. Follow for more gut health tips.

Dr. Joseph Salhab

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Sunday 18 October 2026 17:43:18 GMT