Nancy, I respectively disagree...every woman should be checked for their Iron...if you're like me you, supplimenting your iron can be a bad thing. (not trying to hijack the thread here...)
My entire life I have had problems when ingesting anything, be it vitamins or food, containing iron. It has finally been diagonesed that I have Hemochromatosis (iron overload), which can have some of the same symptoms as anemia. (My mother has it, my sister has it, and my daughter has it as well) Its VERY important to find out which is your problem. Since mine has been diagnosed and I have watched my iron intake, one of the BIGGEST changes that affected me greatly was changing my multi-vitamin to one that didnt include iron. Now not only do I not feel tired ALL the time and ready to go to bed at 3pm in the afternoon, my stomach problems have all but disappeared. People with more severe cases than I are told to have phlebotomies (blood letting) to aleviate symptoms. Menstruation for me is a good thing hehehehe because I do lose a LOT of the iron then.
Doctors are not that great at diagnosing it...they actually told my sister she had anemia and during her current pregnancy perscribed her more than the usual iron supplements, which made her sick as a dog.
PLEASE if you go to your doctor to get checked out make SURE they diagnose you the correct way.
This website can give you more information
http://www.ironoverload.org
(Sorry to kinda hijack the thread, I just dont want any of you girls going the wrong way with your iron and getting as sick as I have been known to in the past.)