HELP,low iron levels

 Hi all, just want to congratulate you all on such a friendly, informative site .

I dont know if anyone can help but i am looking for a bit of advice.

I was diagnosed with uc just over a year ago, i have never been totally free of symptoms but it has been bearable. Stupidly i always told my consultant that i was fine when i really was not .

The past two weeks i have had a really bad flare, im currently on 40mg of pred, 8 pentasa and a tablet to stop acid irritating my stomach, i have just had the results back from my blood test and it says my iron level is 6 when it should be around 12-13.My gp is starting me on iron tabs right away. I was wondering if anyone else has suffered low blood and if so what was there treatment?

My gp says that it will take 2-3 months for my levels to get back to normal, which is hard when you feel breathless and tired all the time. Would it be beneficial to have a blood transfusion? Should i phone my consultant and let him know and see what he thinks?

Sorry to waffle but do not know what to do!

 Thanks for listening and any replys will be greatly recieved.

Hi vicksie. My iron level was around a 6 last year and my GI had me get a blood transfusion and start on iron pills afterward. You might want to call your doctor and ask about it.

Hello,

I am sorry to hear about your iron issue.  I was hospitalized because mine dropped to 5.9.  They said if it went down the following day they would have to transfuse me.  My iron level did increase slightly by the next day (I was in the hospital for 5 days though), so no transfusion needed. 

I agree with the others on the idea of the associated risks of transfusions.  I would really speak to your doctor about the risks vs. the benefits.

It takes a long time to get the iron levels back but do use the Vitamin C... it does help with absorption.

 

I know just how you feel, like you're just shutting down. I had very low iron last November and my GI had me take a series of Venofer injections weekly over five weeks. By the third week I was feeling a lot more like myself. I have been taking a multivitamin with iron now and they test my levels periodically because the UC can make it difficult to absorb oral iron. Talk to your GI about getting your levels up quicker. It's not safe to have such low iron.

I also tell my GI I am "fine" when I am not. I think it's just a reflexive response to "how are you?" Plus I tend to be like an animal -- hiding my weakness, going off to my "cave" when I feel bad ;)

Thanks everyone for all your replies, sorry to hear that most of you have iron problems as well. I am going to consult my gp and consultant and see what they reccomend. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks all so much xxxxx

That sounds great! Glad your son is in remission. I am willing to give anythink a whirl!
Thanx for your advice.

Anemia is a side effect in 5-ASA drugs...maybe it's from the Pentasa you're taking...My iron level counts were almost non-existent and I had to take iron supps for about a month and now my levels are back to normal...also b/c I stopped 5-ASA drugs.

I am horribly anemic too. I unfortunately can't take supplements so I go ever other week for ferolicit (not sure on spelling) IV to get iron pumped straight into me. It's the only thing they can do other than to let me bottom out and get a transfusion which I do not want.

There's also Procrit or aranesp that they give to chemo patients when your iron is super low. Those might be an option to investigate for you too.

I've been getting IVs now for 2+ years and the one big thing I learned in the all that time I was severely anemic was find out why!

Took them a LONG time and me getting pregnant dropping my iron to 4.3 before they caught it (yes I passed out several times) and then it took my kidneys shutting completely down in the middle of a 37 hour delivery to figure out that my iron issue is due to failing kidneys. No having UC doesn't help at all but the kidneys were my source. . . took them over a year to find that one.