Urgh, anaemic again

I can't tolerate oral iron either, mostly it just doesn't absorb or causes constipation. I hope you get your infusion quickly and get some energy back.

I have the same problem with the oral iron. I think I went through every single one out there including all of the easy on the gut ones. I get the iron infusions once a year now and it lasts. How frequently do you need them? always a bit of a hassle though since I'm allergic to at least one of the IV iron formulations. No one is sure which one so have to do a bunch of premeds with it and then the nurse usually stares at me for the length of the treatment in a very u settling way cause they all seem to think I'm going to have a reaction. Do you get neck pains with it? I almost always get bad neck pains and have to have them keep at like 1/3 the rate of infusion or else i get beyond unbearable IV site pain. None of the nurses have ever heard of this happening. I also rarely eat red meat so I'm sure that doesn't help. Usually crohns flares in general make me exceptionally cold so maybe thats contributing to the cold feelings?

Morning folks. I got my blood test results yesterday. Ferritin was 13; iron was also low at 3.9. Interestingly enough, my B12 was 402, the first time I can remember it being over 400 - so obviously the B12 spray I've been taking has been working.

@lamb61 - It also causes pure black stool. I know it's just the unabsorbed iron, but it still isn't very pleasant.

@gumby - God knows. On the one hand, my inflammatory markers have fallen. For example, my platelets used to be nearly 800, now they're 509 (only slightly above the normal range). Albumin is slightly low. It confirms what my GI said to me about my inflammatory markers only being slightly out of range. But on the other hand, my stomach is still rubbish and giving me grief. So, swings and roundabouts.

@Lab - Thanks for the link! That was an interesting read.

My last infusion was in November 2015 apparently (so my GP told me). So, two years ago. I could probably do with having one once a year, but I doubt I'll get one once a year. My iron isn't monitored automatically; I had to ask my GP for an iron test, which luckily she was happy to do.

As for iron infusion allergies, I had an anaphylactic reaction to my very first iron infusion, which was Cosmofer. It all happened in literally about 30 seconds. I started getting chest pains, ignored it, got worried, looked up at a nurse and said "I think something's wrong"; next thing I knew I was on the floor, wondering if I was dying. There were doctors and nurses around me. They got me into a bed, where I was monitored. For an hour or two, I had on an oxygen mask and struggled to breathe, which was an absolutely horrible feeling. But gradually, as the iron cleared my system, I returned to normal and felt fine, if shaken up.

That was it for iron infusions for me, at least a while. But at a different hospital, I tried a formulation called Ferinject. I was nervous as hell; it's normally given as a single infusion over half an hour but they divided it into two infusions and slowed down the infusion rate. It went fine. Since then I've had Ferinject a few more times with zero problems. I now have it as a single infusion at the normal infusion rate, and it's still fine. I can't praise Ferinject highly enough.

Not had any neck pain with it either. If you haven't yet tried Ferinject, I would ask about giving it a go.

I have had 2 iron infusions this year--the mostvrecent was a week ago today, after my colectomy. My iron was down to 6.8, which qualifies for a blood transfusion but iron infusions are much simpler so I requested that instead. I also take EZFE iron pills by prescription, and have never had any trouble with nausea or constipation--supposedly EZFE is formulated for less side effects. It definitely does help my iron levels, but I have to take it 2x per day to see measureable results (to go from like 9.5 to 11 in a span of 2 months).

Hope you have the infusion and feel better NCOT!