Anemia

[phdpr2008]

Hi All,

My partner is going to apply for residency under partnership policy and recently had her full medicals done.

The results suggested that she has iron deficiency anemia. I am wondering if this gonna affect her residence application.

Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

[Flutterby]

tell her to eat beans while drinking orange juice and eat more red meat.

Not sure if it will effect your application, that would depend on if there is a more serious condition causing the anemia but i wouldn't think anemia alone would cause a problem.

[welsh_italian]

Hi All,

My partner is going to apply for residency under partnership policy and recently had her full medicals done.

The results suggested that she has iron deficiency anemia. I am wondering if this gonna affect her residence application.

Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

When I had my medicals done recently, I had an iron deficiency too. My records were forwarded to the medical assessor but it was apparently okayed: the next communication we had from NZIS was approval for PR!

[Wooly_Cow]

Yes it will.

Low iron or red blood cell count can be a a sign of more serious conditions.

My OH had to get her doctor to confirm that her count was normal for her and that there was no underlying medical condition.

Fortunately for her she was in no rush so the few weeks delays to get the confirmation was not a problem.

However if there was no medical history to proove she was healthly at that count level they may have wnated a bank load of extra tests.

Iron is very difficult to get into the blood (and likewise to loose - only bleeding really causes you to loose iron in any concentration). Even if you started an iron rich diet today it would be many weeks if not months before there was a significant improvement.

Best to get your GP to confirm that there are no underlying conditions.

[KatieBen]

It depends on her age, whether or not she is vegetarian (and therefore this is likely to be a deficiency in dietary iron), how anaemic she is and what else her blood picture looks like.

In the majority of women 13-45, it is normal to be mildly anaemic, mostly due to a combination of low dietary iron and menstruation.

It may be simply that she needs to take iron supplements for a few months, it may be that she requires more investigation to see if she is losing blood elsewhere (the GI tract being the obvious place) - again this is more or less likely depending on age. In the older age group you also have to be aware that there are rarer and more serious things which initially present with anaemia.

The initial investigations are done on blood tests, which may be all that is required - more can be ordered later if the blood tests show anything else needs to be looked at. A visit to her GP is definitely in order.

[phdpr2008]

Thanks all for very useful and helpful replies.

First blood test resulted in low Haemoglobin and MCH . So the doctor asked for more specific blood test which giving similar results with low Haemoglobin, MCH, Serum Fe, and Ferritin (IMO, the figures were very close to minimum value in range though). He therefore concluded that she has iron deficiency anemia. Apart from that everything was OK. It is therefore highly possible that a CO will forward the medical certificate to a MA.

Meanwhile, I am making her eat more red meat and bean, and drink juices as well as taking iron supplements pills. Hopefully, these will boost her blood iron levels.

Once again thanks a lot for all your advice and will keep you guys posted.

[Kiwi Mac]

Easily fixed: eat more steak....

[marlene]

I am also waiting for my permit and I hope I get it. However I had some very awkward experiences with the medical tests taken in New Zealand. First of all they said dipstick test showed blood in urine. They repeated this test and the result remained the same. Needless to tell you how scared I was initially since I've never had something like that. In the mean while my blood tests came through and everything was in order except for the iron levels. I was not anaemic, but I had low iron levels. The doctor wrote over there "probably caused by nutrition" after asking me what I normally eat. He also put down the "blood in urine" reading even if the lab test result hadn't come yet. Two days later the urine lab test comes back and bingo! it doesn't confirm the dipstick tests! I put this result together with the medical certificate but I am not sure it will be taken into account, nor can I fancy the outcome of this process since an independent medical advisor has to over check my medical again since the abnormal readings box was ticked.
Don't you find this experience at least a little odd? To be frank I am a bit puzzled and annoyed with this very "relaxed" manner of doing things, cause I'm not relaxed at all right now.

To discuss a bit the previous posts:
Wooly_Cow, of course she is bleeding, she's a woman! Almost all women I know have low iron readings. That generally happens because women deprive themselves from normal food and take up on eating only yogurt and veggies to stay slim (I am part of the same category). If someone has low iron at some extent she will become anaemic, since the blood becomes thinner and more blood cells are lost in the urine or during period. It can be tricky to undo the anaemia once installed. It can take up to a year for full recovery I was told. Perhaps the medical advisor will give the ok if she is in otherwise good health and still young. Nevertheless I've heard they can be fussy, so they might require further investigations. Phdpr I can only hope she gets the permit without hassles and more time spent taking health tests. Please tell her to drink less tea, if she has this habit. The doc recommended me to drink water or juices instead of tea.
However, if a woman has only low iron levels without anemia, I can't see the problem for them to give her the permit, that is to answer welsh_italian. That is not a medical condition, it can only lead to one (anaemia) if left untreated (change of diet, iron supplements.

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

[sophiedb]

Hi All,

My partner is going to apply for residency under partnership policy and recently had her full medicals done.

The results suggested that she has iron deficiency anemia. I am wondering if this gonna affect her residence application.

Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

hello there

I have applied under the partnership policy and as far as I know my visa will be passed despite a history of thyroid cancer. This is now treated with replacement thyroxine pills only, which isn't too dissimilar to iron tablets (if your partner is prescribed these, depending on whether there's an underlying condition).

My file is still with the MA - hoping for a response soon! - but I based on info from my consultant, who wrote a letter to go with my medicals, that I should be fine. It's just a waiting game, in some ways, because the MA got my file just before Xmas and as far as I know it's not quite at the top of the backlog yet.

I sincerely hope that your partner's anaemia is just one of the usual female issues rather than something serious. A simple deficiency might well result in a referral to the MA, which will delay her visa, but shouldn't be a reason for it to be refused.

In case it is something more serious, it would be good to start checking it out via your GP now. All those records will help if the MA comes back with more questions anyway! (says the person who sent half her hospital records with the application, hoping to head questions off at the pass...)

best wishes, Sophie