Anemia and Intravenous Iron Therapy

Hello All, I am several years post-op and have been anemic for over a year now. Last week, I had my first intravenous iron therapy session. Was at St. Vincent's for a nice 10 hours. I though that I would start feeling better immediately however, that hasn't been the case. Anyone else have this done and if so, how long did it take you to start feeling better?

how old are you? i have not heard of anyone having this.... are you to goal? keep us posted on this so we can be aware of what to look for, and how it works for you

I am 39. I originally had the lap band back in 1998. My revision was done in 2002. I started out at 295, got to 170 and then this past year, my anemia has caused me to not be able to exercise. I barely have enough energy to get up and go to work. I've put back on about 10 pounds. Not too worried about that - I know once we get the anemia solved, that I can get back on the exercise band wagon.

I had intravenous iron therapy (infusions) from a week before my surgery up till I was about 4 months post op. Then suddenly my body just started to absorb and keep the iron in my body. I don't know what your therapy sessions have you doing - but I had to do one week of one day of 2 packs of blood, one day pack of iron, waited three days and then another day pack of iron. Then I waited two weeks and did two days in one week of 2 packs iron each. Then waited three weeks and did three days - one day one pack blood and two days two packs iron each. Then waited a month and did one day one pack blood and next day one pack iron. Then waited another month and did one pack iron and then that schedule again for the following month. I didn't feel better till almost the end of my treatment. They were never able to figure out why all of the sudden I became severly anemic but it took awhile for me to get back to where I needed to be.

Jodi, My hemoglobin levels have been hovering around the 8-10 level for awhile. Doctor tried me on iron pills and although it seemed to help a bit, it never did get me to the acceptable levels (which she said can fall between 12-16 for women - she wants me somewhere around 14 to 14.8). The other two options she presented me with was a once a week, two hours a day intravenous iron regime or a one-time, all day fest. I chose the all-dayer. She indicated that some people couldn't tolerate the all-dayer which is why they would do the once a week regime. I was bound and determined to be the all-dayer . Last Friday, they administered intravenous iron to me. Basically, they started out with a test sample to make sure that I didn't have any reactions. After that, they hooked me up to a bag and it took about 8 hours for it to make its way into my system. The next steps so far is that I'm supposed to go in in 3 1/2 weeks (for blood draw) to see where my hemoglobin levels are. All of the research I've done on the web suggests that you should start feeling better (anywhere from 24-72 hours). For me, I don't feel any different. I've called the hematologists office and of course, it's a phone tag situation. I'm just so miserable and have been for a year and it's disappointing that something I thought would take affect immediately doesn't seem to have made any difference. That's why I was checking in to see if anyone else had a delayed-type of improvement (ala past 72 hours).

WOW! - a 14 Level!!! My doctor has been happy with my constant 11.2 level and I've been off iron infusions for two months now. But I do know what you mean about the delayed-type improvement. I didn't feel any less tired/drained untill the very last of my treatment regime (months and months later). I hope things start working out for you and hopefully you'll feel better soon. Hang In There *

Mine were borderline for my last blood test...right around 12....so I was told to take iron pills (which constipate me). So I have another blood draw due this week...will be interested in seeing if it's still ow or has gone up. I feel tired all the time too. Would love to get back into a 14-15 range *****sigh**** if it's not protein it's iron