Iron-Deficiency (Anemia)

Iron-deficiency anemia is thought to be due to lack of iron, as the name would imply. The lack of iron, however, often is simply in the blood stream, not necessarily in the diet. Two stories illustrate this point:

The first case was a 63-year-old woman who had a hemoglobin of 9.3 grams prior to treatment with iron medication. After nearly two months of therapy, her hemoglobin went up to 9.5 grains, but she had developed a skin rash. I felt that this, was due to the iron, so I stopped it, and, with an eye toward cleaning out the toxins in the body, suggested that she take an ounce of castor oil, repeating the procedure in four days. She did as I directed and continued until she came to see me six weeks later. It made her feel so good, she said, and her rash was gone. I did another hemoglobin before starting her on iron again. This time it was 13.4 grams – so I forgot about the iron.

The other case was a woman in her late fifties who had anemia and a moderate hypothyroidism. When she came to me she had a hemoglobin of 11.5 grams. I did not start her on iron (I rarely do, since there is plenty of iron in the diet if the body will absorb it), but I did recommend a couple of changes in diet and, because she had a sore back, started her on infrared lamp treatments for thirty minutes three times a week. The next time I saw her, some four weeks later, her energy was higher and she felt much better. Her hemoglobin was up to 13.9 grams.

[† July, 1972, Volume 7, No. 4, page 285, Copyright © 1972 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA.]