Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones reveals her mystery health battle

Yvie Jones has revealed her iron levels recently got to dangerously low levels, leaving her in need of an urgent iron transfusion.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, the 47-year-old former Gogglebox star urged other women to pay attention to their bodies after feeling exhausted for six months.  

‘I’m in my late 40s, and last year I started perimenopause… I was so fatigued. Not like normal tired, like low energy, I was fatigued,’ she explained. 

‘I couldn’t understand why. I was cancelling jobs and missing out on birthday parties, really important things, and I was like, this is really weird. 

‘It was a girlfriend that finally said, “Have you thought maybe you’re really low in iron?” I was like, “I don’t know.” 

‘I was trying everything, the caffeine and all that kind of thing, and nothing worked. I finally went and spoke to my GP, and my iron was so low, just from the change of hormones and everything. But I was like, “Oh my God!” I had no idea.’

After discovering her iron levels were sitting at just nine, Yvie was given an emergency iron transfusion, and now takes a daily tablet.

‘When I got the blood test back, I was like, “Oh my lord!” They were like, “You need to get onto this straight away,”‘ she recounted.

‘I think I would’ve gotten really sick. You just live like a zombie until you don’t anymore. My immune system wouldn’t have survived.’

Yvie said it was only after an honest conversation with her girlfriends that she finally decided to talk to her GP.

‘It was girlfriends who said to me, “You are not yourself.” And I was like, “Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything, but I’m not. Like, I’m really struggling with staying awake,”‘ she said. 

‘You know that feeling of dragging your body around? It was hard to even lift my arm. I’d never really had that exhaustion before.’

After finding out what was wrong, she admitted she felt a ‘huge relief’, because she could finally start treating it knowing there were plenty of options available to her.

She said she previously had ‘no idea’ how many women struggle with low iron levels, and urged them to get tested for Women’s Health Week. 

‘A lot of women just ignore it. They just think, this is part of my life now, not knowing exactly what it is and that there are so many options for help,’ she added.