The Female Health Solution Podcast
Aug 10, 2026 · 47 min · 13 segments
When you're exhausted, foggy, losing hair, and feeling like something is off, it's easy to hear "your labs are fine" and start doubting yourself. In this episode, I'm walking you through the iron…
I want to share one of the weird questions that I ask people when we do an intake, and that is, um, [lips smack] "Do you ever chew ice? Do you ever find yourself craving chewing ice and you're thinking, 'I need something, and what would really satisfy me is a cup of ice bits that I can just crunch on.
Oh, that would be amazing'? [lips smack] Um, you don't, uh, want it in a cold drink.
It's, it's really about the crunch and the ice and everything, and you do this repetitively.
I even think that there's some ice that is better than other ice." I had this conversation with someone not that long ago.
There's Sonic ice is different than McDonald's ice and this and this, and so I really like certain types of ice to chew on." That's a huge red flag, right? That's a huge red flag.
If you find yourself craving it like you would crave chocolate, then [laughs] this is something we need to dive into, right? It's not just a quirk.
Why does it need a name? I just like chewing ice," it's because it's actually one of the more specific signs that's related to iron deficiency.
[lips smack] Um, and it's one of the most specific signs though overall that is cited in literature, and it has been for a really, really long time.
And sometimes it's a question that gets missed or it's not thought of because people are thinking, "You're fatigued and your hair's falling out.
That's enough." Or, "You know, you're just getting older, so yeah, and you're just kind of quirky like that." The other thing to ask about is really making sure we dive into things like restless legs.
"Do you get restless legs at all, especially at night?" Um, that almost crawly feeling where you just can't get comfortable, you can't feel rested, and that is also something that can be related to iron deficiencies.
[lips smack] What about if you walk up a flight of stairs and you get breathless? You-- maybe, maybe you're doing laundry and you're carrying it upstairs, carrying a basket upstairs, and you feel winded.
And then you feel like, "Gosh, am I out of shape? I just [gasps] That wasn't that much exercise, but I can't get..." And it's called air hunger.
The chewing on ice, the restless or creepy crawly, crawly feeling on your legs, and then that air hunger, not being able to really [gasps] take a deep breath, catch your breath.
We're gonna dive into this today and talk about this 'cause one of the things that makes me absolutely lose my mind when we're talking about really looking at your levels and making sure somebody's looking at your levels correctly, we're gonna, we're gonna go into this.
So if you're just listening to the podcast, I have a whole list here that I'm showing you that we're gonna talk about in detail in terms of getting the right iron panel and testing.
So if you're just listening, make sure you go watch the video on this 'cause it's gonna be so helpful to put that visual cue there.
But all of these things are so common and kind of brushed off, but can really be pointing to the same sign, and it's so important that we look at this type of deficiency.
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I want to share one of the weird questions that I ask people when we do an intake, and that is, um, [lips smack] "Do you ever chew ice? Do you ever find yourself craving chewing ice and you're thinking, 'I need something, and what would really satisfy me is a cup of ice bits that I can just crunch on.
Oh, that would be amazing'? [lips smack] Um, you don't, uh, want it in a cold drink.
It's, it's really about the crunch and the ice and everything, and you do this repetitively.
I even think that there's some ice that is better than other ice." I had this conversation with someone not that long ago.
There's Sonic ice is different than McDonald's ice and this and this, and so I really like certain types of ice to chew on." That's a huge red flag, right? That's a huge red flag.
If you find yourself craving it like you would crave chocolate, then [laughs] this is something we need to dive into, right? It's not just a quirk.
Why does it need a name? I just like chewing ice," it's because it's actually one of the more specific signs that's related to iron deficiency.
[lips smack] Um, and it's one of the most specific signs though overall that is cited in literature, and it has been for a really, really long time.
And sometimes it's a question that gets missed or it's not thought of because people are thinking, "You're fatigued and your hair's falling out.
That's enough." Or, "You know, you're just getting older, so yeah, and you're just kind of quirky like that." The other thing to ask about is really making sure we dive into things like restless legs.
"Do you get restless legs at all, especially at night?" Um, that almost crawly feeling where you just can't get comfortable, you can't feel rested, and that is also something that can be related to iron deficiencies.
[lips smack] What about if you walk up a flight of stairs and you get breathless? You-- maybe, maybe you're doing laundry and you're carrying it upstairs, carrying a basket upstairs, and you feel winded.
And then you feel like, "Gosh, am I out of shape? I just [gasps] That wasn't that much exercise, but I can't get..." And it's called air hunger.
The chewing on ice, the restless or creepy crawly, crawly feeling on your legs, and then that air hunger, not being able to really [gasps] take a deep breath, catch your breath.
We're gonna dive into this today and talk about this 'cause one of the things that makes me absolutely lose my mind when we're talking about really looking at your levels and making sure somebody's looking at your levels correctly, we're gonna, we're gonna go into this.
So if you're just listening to the podcast, I have a whole list here that I'm showing you that we're gonna talk about in detail in terms of getting the right iron panel and testing.
So if you're just listening, make sure you go watch the video on this 'cause it's gonna be so helpful to put that visual cue there.
But all of these things are so common and kind of brushed off, but can really be pointing to the same sign, and it's so important that we look at this type of deficiency.
