Why does iron deficiency cause fatigue, even in the absence of anemia?
So things that can look like anemia can be other things!  Case in point, my wife was misdiagnosed for months with Anemia. What she really has is several tick Bourne diseases. For 5 months her doctors kept giving her blood transfusions as he hemoglobin reading was around 4-5 and it should be 12-13 for a normal person. Can't tell u how many specialists and emg room visits. Finally found a female md that listened to her and gave the approval to do a comprehensive tick panel. Sure enough rocky mountain spotted fever, erlicheaosis, recurring Lyme fever and regular old Lyme. The blood they were giving her was basically like throwing gas on a fire. Almost was ready to make funeral arrangements. Let me say tick diseases are going bonkers and a lot of people don't know they have it. Plus a lot of doctors won't believe or authorize tests.  Advocate for yourself or you might die! Not kidding !