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Anyone with low Iron??

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 10/20/2008 2:27 AM (GMT 0)
I've been seeing a lot of my family doctor the past month due to a chest cold I caught thanks to my 2 year old.  Yep I'm blaming it on him!! LOL   Anyway, I went on zpack the first time and it came back so back to the doc for stronger meds.  While I was there, I asked her if she could take blood and check me for my B12 since my GI never checks that stuff.  So she said sure and checked for a whole bunch of stuff actually.  Everything came back good except she said my iron was real low so she wants me to start taking something over the counter.  I wish she would have been more specific but she wasn't and of course I didn't think to ask.  I know we are all different but guess just wondering if low iron is common and I guess what is good?  I suppose they are all good but hopefully you know what I mean.  lol  TIA
Posted 10/20/2008 4:26 AM (GMT 0)
took an iron supplement.... Ended up in the hospital a few weeks after I started.... It was too hard on the stomach.... Just be careful. Maybe it will be different for you.
Posted 10/20/2008 4:32 AM (GMT 0)
I always have low iron so I take an over the counter iron pill. It says on the bottle that it's non constipating and it doesn't give me any trouble.
Posted 10/20/2008 4:35 AM (GMT 0)
Avoid Ferrous Sulphate. That one is the cheapest but also the worst one for causing trouble with your gut. Ones that should be ok include Ferrous Citrate or a mixed Ferrous Fumarate/Maleate/Gluconate tablet. I personally prefer the Citrate because I find the taste of Gluconates disagreeable. It does not taste offensive, just not to my liking. I have always thought that the body's preferences should be followed. You might want to add meats high in iron to the prescription. The pathway for absorbing heme iron is separate from that for ferrous salts, so you have two ways for it to get into your system.
Posted 10/20/2008 4:38 AM (GMT 0)
Some forms of iron cause D and others cause C and which one causes which will vary person to person. Don't spend a lot and try another form if the one you get bothers you. You need vitamin C to absorb the iron so if the brand you get doesn't have it, either take it with orange juice or swallow a vitamin C pill at the same time.

Like Curly said, it is really hard on the stomach.
Posted 10/20/2008 4:51 AM (GMT 0)
My daughter and I both are anemic and take iron daily.  There are many over the counter brands and there is a specific type that is easier on the tummy.  I don't have it handy so I can't tell you the name exactly but I think it is like "slow fe" and it comes in a white box.  This costs a little more than some but it's worth avoiding the tummy troubles.  Good luck!
Posted 10/20/2008 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
I've always had iron problems, but pills never helped. I took Niferix for a long time, and don't recall it bothering my stomach/intestines much. However, it also did nothing for my anemia. Now I get Venofer infusions whenever my iron gets low.
Posted 10/20/2008 6:16 AM (GMT 0)
The pointers from Elaine may be of help. Dietary iron beats supplemental iron any day:

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/kb/iron_supplements.htm

If you insist on going with OTC supplements, I would suggest something like Advanced Ferro-Chel, which not only has iron in the correct form (chelated), but supplements the other components that may be deficient in your diet that help your body use that iron.

Have a steak. And some eggs. The iron chelated as hemoglobin is more readily transformed into human hemoglobin- unlike iron sulfate and other salts, which are poorly absorbed.

The iron in "Total" and other breakfast cereals is in the form of iron filings; you can show this with a beaker full of water on a magnetic stir plate. Throw in the cereal and a stir bar, and let it stir for an hour. When you pull it out, the stir bar will be loaded with steel "whiskers" from the iron, added to supplement the cereal. Guess how much of THAT is absorbed! tongue
Posted 10/20/2008 2:46 PM (GMT 0)
I cannot tolerate oral Iron supplements myself. Tried a variety without any luck. I just got a Iron Dextran infusion 2 weeks ago. So far not seeing any relief in my fatigue, but hopeful I will see one soon.
Posted 10/20/2008 3:01 PM (GMT 0)
I've tried every one out there and they all kill my gut. :(
Posted 10/20/2008 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
I have low iron any way, but they finally put me on it...it screwed up my system for a while but it all evened out...if they put you on a high dose you will want to be on a stool softener most likely (colace and it's generics are what my docs recommended to me). I was also put on B12 and the combination of the two vitamin supplements seems to help a little (the iron is making me not so pasty white again)
Posted 10/20/2008 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
Ferrous sulphate didn't irritate my stomach and my pharmacist recommended it. Like always, everyone's different, just trial and error. Before I had Crohn's I couldn't take a multi-vit with iron in it because it bothered my stomach, so i had to search out vitamins with low iron. Now the opposite prob., go figure?!
Posted 10/20/2008 8:32 PM (GMT 0)
Any of the sulfates irritate my stomach but I love gentle iron available at the vitamin shoppe, or vitron C available in any drug store and some grocery stores. My Rhuemy recommended Vitron C when I was severely anemic-I am no longer anemic but my Iron stores are still really low so I am still on the iron supplements.
Posted 10/20/2008 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
Gut inflammation makes absorbing iron and many other nutrients more difficult. The Salazine/pentasa type of drugs improve nutrient absorption IF they work on you. I would suggest that iron be taken in addition to a supplement designed to help inflammation. The ones that are more likely to be effective would be - propolis; Boswellia serrata; probiotics including Lactobacillus reuteri or Lactobacillus casei GG (must be the GG strain). Those supplements have been shown to help inflammation in the majority of people with Crohn's taking them. Also, iron should be taken separately from multivitamins and other mineral supplements. A couple of other minerals use the same transport/absorption machinery as ferrous ions and so you get less of each absorbed that way.
Posted 10/20/2008 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
Also note- depending upon the theories one wishes to listen to, mycobacteria and klebsiella both cause the body to "hide" iron in order to shut down the infection. From "Biology of the Mycobacteria" by Ratledge and Stanford in 1983, I have become more skeptical as to the use of supplemental iron:

"The pathogenic mycobacteria are among those organisms for which there is compelling evidence that the availability of iron as a microbiological nutrient plays a critical role in infection.Further, A normal host response to infection is a depletion of iron availability with an increase in the amount of unsaturated serum transferrin, which can render the serum bacteriostatic.This property includes extracellular as well as intracellular growth of mycobacteria."

And from:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1237.htm

"Availability of iron increases host susceptibility to K pneumoniae infection. Bacteria are able to compete effectively for iron bound to host proteins because of the secretion of high-affinity, low molecular weight iron chelators known as siderophores. This is necessary because most host iron is bound to intracellular and extracellular proteins. In order to deprive bacteria of iron, the host also secretes iron-binding proteins."
Posted 10/20/2008 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
OK, I was oversimplifying. Gut inflammation is accompanied by increased gut permeability. This allows both bacteria and endotoxins from killed gut bacteria to leak from the gut into the blood. This results in the kind of reaction noted by Osprey101. Reducing inflammation also reduces gut permeability and allows iron levels to normalize. In addition to the supplements listed above, gut permeability can be reduced by using glutamine and zinc (50 mg). Take care to avoid having zinc and iron at the same time since they both compete for the same absorption pathways.
Posted 10/22/2008 1:56 AM (GMT 0)

lil-momma said...
My daughter and I both are anemic and take iron daily.  There are many over the counter brands and there is a specific type that is easier on the tummy.  I don't have it handy so I can't tell you the name exactly but I think it is like "slow fe" and it comes in a white box.  This costs a little more than some but it's worth avoiding the tummy troubles.  Good luck!

Slow fe is what doc is recommending for me. 

Thanks everyone!!

Posted 10/22/2008 1:56 AM (GMT 0)

loobylou said...
Are you anaemic or just iron deficient?


Just iron deficient
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