10/25/2025
Thursday’s Herbal Medicine for the Soul class left my heart heavy—and hopeful.
Three students shared what it’s like to live with beta-thalassemia trait, a condition that often hides in plain sight and gets misdiagnosed as simple iron deficiency.
They all spent years not fully understanding what was going on and why they were tired, pale, and always felt like they had to push through to get through the day.
Rounds of labs revealed similar patterns to iron-deficiency anemia, so iron supplementation was recommended.
But here’s the thing most people don’t know:
Beta-thalassemia trait isn’t a dietary iron problem like with iron deficiency. It’s a genetic trait where your body produces slightly less of a key part of hemoglobin—the beta-globin chain.
In beta-thalassemia trait, the body has enough iron—it just can’t make enough normal hemoglobin. This means the red blood cells are smaller, they die off sooner, and they’re less efficient at carrying oxygen.
On paper, it looks like iron-deficiency anemia—but adding more iron doesn’t fix the issue.
In fact, it can make it worse.
When the body thinks it’s anemic, it signals the gut lining to absorb more iron, even if it already has enough. Over time, for folks with beta-thalassemia disease, this can lead to iron overload, where iron builds up in the liver, heart, and glands, causing deeper health issues.
Unlike many nutrients, the body has no active way to get rid of excess iron—it isn’t excreted through urine, f***s, or sweat in any meaningful amount. So the body does what it can: it tries to “store” the extra iron by depositing it into organs like the liver, heart, and endocrine glands. Over time, those stores become toxic, leading to inflammation, scarring, and organ dysfunction.
Day to day, people living with this trait often experience:
🔺 Fatigue that doesn’t match their workload
🔺 Cold hands and feet, even in warm rooms
🔺 Pale skin or pale inner eyelids
🔺 Irritability and burnout
🔺 Lighter-than-average menstrual periods
🔺 And the frustration of hearing, over and over again, “your labs are fine.”
Or as one student was told by a top physician who treats this disease:
"You’re not sick enough to be here,” and was sent away."
It took years for them to advocate for genetic testing—and when they finally got clarity, they were turned away for treatment. Can you believe that?
This speaks volumes about the modern medical paradigm. For genetic conditions, it’s one thing when science hasn’t advanced to the point where treatment exists. But it’s another thing entirely to turn someone away from care that does exist because they’re ill, but not “sick enough” to qualify. Talk about wild.
And because so many people don’t understand what they’re going through—because on the outside they “look fine”—another student expressed that living with beta-thalassemia trait feels like having an invisible chronic illness. And since the medical system doesn’t recognize the trait as something that needs support, they can’t even get doctor’s notes to request workplace accommodations. It’s maddening.
So how do we begin to support the body when the system doesn’t?
We focus on what’s within our control—how to nourish the organs that are doing the extra work, protect the heart and liver from iron strain, and help the body use oxygen as efficiently as possible.
For people with beta-thalassemia trait, that means:
1️⃣ Avoiding unnecessary iron supplements unless a full panel—ferritin, serum iron, TIBC, and transferrin saturation—confirms true deficiency, not just a CBC result.
2️⃣ Choosing foods and herbs that protect rather than overload the body.
3️⃣ Learning how to pace energy and honor boundaries without guilt or comparison—because oxygen delivery to the tissues is compromised, it’s critical to honor your capacity.
4️⃣ And perhaps most importantly, discovering the diet that truly supports your unique body. Yesterday’s class reminded us that while whole, unprocessed foods benefit everyone, the right diet looks different for every person. Some bodies thrive on a meat-forward diet, while others—like those with transfusion-dependent thalassemia—must limit meat to manage iron overload. When we insist that everyone eat the same way—vegan, vegetarian, or otherwise—we risk pushing people into restrictive patterns that disconnect them from their body’s wisdom. True nourishment begins with listening, not following trends.
When people are left to figure things out on their own, they often start by listening—to their fatigue, their cravings, their rhythms. That kind of listening is what herbalism teaches us to do more deeply.
This is where herbalism shines.
Plants meet the body in its subtleties—offering nourishment that strengthens without excess, balances without suppression, and invites awareness instead of avoidance.
🌿 Turmeric and green tea help cool inflammation and gently slow iron absorption.
🌿 Milk thistle and artichoke leaf protect and detoxify the liver.
🌿 Hawthorn and hibiscus support circulation and heart health.
🌿 Ashwagandha and reishi restore stamina and emotional steadiness when exhaustion runs deep.
These herbs don’t “fix” the trait—but they help the body function with it, instead of fighting against it.
What struck me most from our class was how much these students have had to navigate alone. They’ve had to research, experiment, and advocate for themselves simply to feel better in a system that says, “you’re fine.”
And yet, they keep showing up—for their healing, their education, and for others walking a similar path.
That’s what we do together inside Herbal Medicine for the Soul®. We study the body not as a collection of symptoms, but as a conversation—a living dialogue between physiology, emotion, and spirit.
If you’ve ever felt dismissed by medicine or misunderstood in your symptoms, this is the space where you’ll finally be seen.
Because your experience matters. Your energy matters. And your healing deserves depth.
👉🏽 Learn more about Herbal Medicine for the Soul®
Join us in exploring the kind of herbal wisdom that helps you understand your body—so you can care for it in ways that feel both scientific and sacred.
