A 41-year-old African American female presents to establish care as a new patient. She underwent evaluation of heavy menses and had a hysterectomy 6 months ago. She was noted to have high blood pressures on multiple occasions. She denies chest pain or shortness of breath. She denies dizziness but endorses headache, occasional palpitations, and occasional emesis this week when her blood pressure was high.
Her only medication is iron supplements, which she forgets to take on occasion. Family history is negative for anemia. Her physical exam is normal except for blood pressure of 141/90 mm Hg

Abbreviation Reference Value Patient Value
White blood cell (103/mcL) WBC 3.9-10.7 4.4
Hemoglobin (g/dL) Hb 11.8-16 9.9
Packed cell volume (%) PCV
36-43 27
Platelet (103/mcL) PLT 135-371 251
Mean corpuscular volume (fL) MCV 81-98 69
Red blood cell (106/mcl) RBC 4-5.5 4.84
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (pg/cell) MCH 27-32 23.6
Mean cell hemoglobin concentration (g/dL) MCHC 31-35 32.2
Red cell distribution width (%) RDW 11.1-13.4 16.2
Ferritin (ng/mL) 15-204 16
Reticulocyte count (%) Retic 0.5-1.8 1.2%

.Since she had a hysterectomy 6 months ago for heavy menses with associated anemia, do you continue the iron supplements and why?

Please put references less than 5 years