Anemia

My son seems to be anemic. He has Crohns. The doctor told him to try to take an iron pill but did say he may have to adjust his dosage depending on how it affects him in the bathroom. I hate to see him get worse in that department. Our whole family just started taking multivitamins (Flinstone complete). It says it has 100% recommended daily allowance for iron. Would this be enough?

thats correct Red meat is good source of Iron.. and also you can try to eat LIVER...

My gastro, who subspecializes in IBD treatment, says that iron can "clump" in the intestines. It's a good idea to consult your son's gastro about the best type of supplement for him to take. You could also look into Forvia, the vit/mineral supplement that is especially designed for IBD patients' known deficiencies. Several members writing here report good results from taking it over time. I myself do better with the Centrum vitamins than other commercial brands. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])

When I was severely anemic I was taking three 365 mg iron tablets a day. I got better within two months. However, I still have to take one of those a day... I'm still anemic, but not as bad.

I found this info on Iron chelators - I believe you can buy iron in this form as a supplement I would try these first.

. increased synthesis of the human iron-binding proteins (iron chelators) lactoferrin and transferrin which trap iron for use by human cells while making it unavailable to most microbes;

I think adverse reactions to iron may be because bacteria use it as a catalyst and produce gas (think bloating, pain) and OH radicals (cause ulcers)

an extract from a pubmed article

During inflammation, the superoxide anion (O-2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are produced by stimulated polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages. The toxic effects of these reactive oxygen intermediates increase when traces of iron are present, because iron catalyzes the formation of the hydroxyl radical (OH.).

And a theory on UC which seems (in my opinion) to have some good supporting evidence

This is summary of what he discovered :

In healthy people, the iron that's in your food, is transported from your intestines into your blood. Iron is needed for creating hemoglobin (red blood cells). The picture below illustrates this :

Because of some unknown reason the transport mechanism, that should transfer iron into your blood, is defect in persons with Crohn's Disease.
Update (Feb 1,2001): The body's natural responce to an inflammation/infection is decreasing the iron transport from the intestines into the blood. This is done because bacteria need iron for growth. However when the inflammation is INSIDE the intestines, this defence mechanism works contra productive.
This causes the following situation :
Iron is a catalyzer in The Haber-Weiss reaction : h2o2 + Fe(iron) +2 --> Fe(iron) +3 + OH + HO (hydroxyl free radicals)

Simply said : A big amount of iron in your intestines creates a very big amount of hydroxyl free radicals !
Free Radicals can do substantial damage to your intestine cells.
As a result, your defence system initiates an attack on itself : The intestine cells. An inflammation is the result !
Even worse, the bone marrow, which is responsible for creating hemoglobin, doesn't receive any iron anymore.
Without the iron, it can't create red blood cells and thus the person gets anemia as a bonus !
The bone marrow sends a message to the intestines : "Please dissolve more iron and transport it to me !"
The intestines starts creating large amounts of soluble iron. It can't be transported to the bone marrow however.
Result : This is a vicious cycle, you won't be able te break !

Update (Feb 1,2001): The iron in the intestines causes a second problem. Because of the excess of iron in the intestines, the bacteria in the mucus of the intestines will thrive. It will completely destroy the natural balance of bacteria in the intestines. The bacteria start producing acids and the intestines cells have no protection for that. So, the amount of digestive enzymes also decreases rapidly.

I am trying a low iron diet at the moment (started yesterday) and will let you know how I get on...

Just a FYI, men need less iron then women. If men take too much iron, it can have a severe adverse affect on them. So you should ask the doc what is the proper dosage for a man. So for instance, if he is taking a multivitamin that has iron, then that has to account for the daily allowance and/or the increase.