Question: Hello, I am cold all the time, even to the point of wearing 2 fleece jackets indoors in a temperate house. In the summer I am not very cold, but the other nine months of the year I am freezing. My PCP ordered thyroid tests, which turned out to be normal. I used to tend to be anemic, but now take iron every day. A nurse recently called me to tell me that my hematocrit was something like "42". She said I could stop taking iron. So it's not my thyroid and it's not anemia, apparently. What else could explain these symptoms?

Dr. XXXXXXX Thank you for your quick and thoughtful response. I want to let you know that my gross hematuria was not due to a urinary tract infection--I was being tested for a UTI (negative) when I gave the urine specimen that looked like Coca-Cola. That was in Sept. of 2013. My urologist did a cystoscopy which looked normal. I have indications of a squamous cell "intraepithelial lesion" in my bladder, "possibly concerning for high grade." While all of this concerns me, I don't see how it would affect feeling chilly all the time, unless my kidneys were shot and I didn't make enough red blood cells any more. But the nurse at my PCP's office indicated that I could "stop taking your iron". I am a small (5' 0") person who weighs 110 pounds and my blood pressure is typically 99/65 with a pulse rate of about 75. Now that I am old, and slight of build, and have low blood pressure, am I going to have to deal with feeling freezing cold the rest of my life? If that's the case, then so be it, I just don't want to give up before exhausting all possibilities. Thank you again for your time and attention. XXXXXXX Vautier