Anemia with UC

The hair loss might be from a lack of folic acid. He should be taking this as well as iron and probably vitamin D, too. The Apriso is not making him have iron-poor anemia; the disease is. But the Apriso may be making his hair fall out; this might also be a result of the pred.

I received an iron infusion during a hospitalization. Otherwise I had a prescription for an iron pill (with folic acid and some other vitamins/minerals) that I took three times a day.

Thanks ActiveUcer and banangirl. My son is taking Bifera prescription iron supplement (iron PIC 22 mg, iron HIP 6 mg, Folic Acid 1mg and B12 25 mg) - 2x daily. Hemoglobin has been stable at 8.8 but not going up. Also started daily roast beef, pastrami sandwiches. Per sherbear46 it could take a couple of months before we see hemoglobin improve. Pred lowered pred to 30 mg (15mg 2x daily) now.

BV, what's his ferritin like?

Does your son's inflammation extend into the small bowel? Most nutritional absorption happens there. It may be that the anemia is due in part to poor nutritional absorption, or he could be bleeding from anemia higher up. Has he had a CAT scan or MRI or pill cam?

I've never tried Apriso and don't know much about it, sorry.

But I did have a lot of hair loss after both of my hospital stays. I had also taken prednisolone. But the doctors told me that it was because I was very ill, and my body had been sending all the blood to my bowel, and 'not bothering' with my hair, nails etc.

I have had anaemia for a long time now, I did come off the iron pills, but I got anaemic again, so now I have to take iron 3 times a day. It makes me vomit, so I have to take anti-sickness pills aswell. In my experience, an iron-rich diet isn't enough.

I didn't have weight gain with prednisolone, but I did get the puffy face. It did eventually go back to normal after I had stopped taking the prednisolone. I have gained a lot of weight over the last couple of years, but I suspect it's my anti-depressant pills doing that.

I don't know about stunting growth, sorry. I was an adult when I first became ill with UC.

Thanks, dizzy_noodles. Hope you are feeling better.

Ok, so my son is starting to see a flare up again, 10 days after we tapered to 30 mg prednisone. Doc said Apriso isn't working, we need to step up the maintenance medicine to an immunosuppressant. We decided on remicade, getting it on IV today. Pred upgraded to 40 mg again to keep disease under control. Sigh. Hope the new drug works out. So far Lialda and Apriso haven't worked. On the positive side, his hemoglobin has increased to 9.4 in the last 12 days (likely due to iron supplements).