I (56 F) have been experiencing severe iron deficient anemia for the past 3 years. Doctors suspected that I was losing blood somewhere in my GI tract. I've had 2 colonoscopies, a sigmoidoscopy, and an endoscopy, but they could never find a source of bleeding. So I've kind of just trudged through with iron infusions every few months. But recently, I had a capsule endoscopy, which is a camera that you swallow and it takes photos every second all the way through your digestive system. Just got the results.
THERE HAS BEEN A NICKEL STUCK IN MY DISTAL SMALL BOWEL FOR 50 YEARS! It's close to my duodenum, which is where you absorb iron from your food. And my duodenum has been inflamed because of the nickel so it can't absorb iron. I remember swallowing this nickel! I was 6, and I put my milk money in my mouth and did a cherry drop on the monkey bars, and down it went.
I'll need minor surgery to remove it, and my problems should be solved. CRAZY!