Iron Supplements No Longer Covered by Ins -- HELP!!

I got my surgery in 2005. I have always been anemic and it became VERY important after surgery to stay on top of my iron supplements. Well for the past year my insurance no longer covers my supplemetns, or any to treat my VERY BAD anemia. I am physically ill from not taking my supplements (SHAME ON ME I KNOW!) but they cost about $100 a month and it's been "feed the kids or get the pills" Now my health is seriously at stake so it's "get the pills" but I was just wondering if any of you veterans out there had any suggestions on how to get my supplements. I looked into all the major chains for the 90 day supply for $9.99 deals and the $4 generic perscription deals but NONE of them are generic scripts to treat anemia. The ones I have been taking are Repliva (generic brand is PruVate) or the one I prefer is Nifrex Forte 150 (no generic from what I have been told). These are the only two formulas that my body will absorb since surgery. I OF COURSE knew that this was something I was going to deal with when I made this desicion and I typically could afford these pills, just not right now :o(  And I need them badly, my ferratin level reports <1 on my blood test! Not good. So any thoughts for cheap iron let me know :o)

I believe I can lend you a suggestion. Goggle Sundown Perfect Iron. You can get it cheap on Amazon or if you have a Sundown store near you thats good too. They are not the typical iron (ferrous sulfate which our adjusted system doesn't really absorb anyway) but a carbolyn iron (sp). They absorb better and are not toxic. I ran these by my doctor and he said they are good to be used cause I'm pretty anemic (I believe at 2 checks ago I was 10). You can take a coupld of them and not have to worry about them backing you up or poisioning you. I believe there like 6 bucks or so a bottle and you can take 325 mg to see faster results (a couple of pills) but hey if they don;t work for you at least your not out a huge chunck of money. 

I'd seek a referral to a hemetologist, you sound as if yo are beyond the rescue of pills, you probably need iron infusions! Anemia is a very dangerous condition if left untreated and tabs wont raise your stores quick enough! I'd work on appealing insurance coverage as well.

I buy walmart ferrous gluconate, but then again my body absorbs that. It is inexpensive $6 for 100 tabs....each is 300mg salt wt =or 35mg elemental iron.

Who drew your labs? Do you go to a specialist for this clinical nutrition MD, bariatrician, bariatric surgeon?

Sometimes we have other factors besides wls affecting low iron (i.e. bleeding somewhere)....
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niferex® -150 forte Capsules
(ferrous asparto glycinate and polysaccharide iron) Complex
Each powder-filled capsule for oral administration contains:
Iron
Sumalate?* (elemental iron)............................. 50 mg
Polysaccharide iron (elemental iron)...................100 mg
Succinic acid ....................................................... 50 mg
Vitamin C as Ester-C®?
Ascorbic acid (as calcium ascorbate).................. 60 mg
Threonic acid (as calcium threonate).................. 0.8 mg
Folic Acid, USP.................................................... 1 mg
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin).............................. 25 mcg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you emailed viatlady to get some guidance?
[email protected]

she carries a polysaccharide iron called:
http://www.vitalady.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=1720

URL Iron or Cypress Iron brand (Polysaccharide-150mg Elemental) 100 caps/btl

$24.99 bottle of 100 tabs, it has 1 1/2x th amount of elemental iron as the Niferex! Cheaper too, you can take cheap Vit C with the iron to help absorbtion and the rest of the stuff in the niferex is not that significant IMHO!

Wishing you well, keep us posted on your progress...

Also Repliva is both chelated iron and ferrous fumerat, again www.vitalady.com has ferrous fumarate...

http://www.vitalady.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&keywords=vtmnfe&template=Templates/sr_vtmnfe.html

One has 106mg elemental in a tab 60 for $13.95


I also agree with others carbonyl iron is well tolerated and absorbed by many, vitalady as well ha her pown formulation she has used for >10 yrs called tender iron!



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Repliva 21/7? Tablets for oral administration to provide 28-day iron supplement therapy.

Each red film-coated tablet contains:

Iron

Ferrochel® * (elemental iron) 70 mg

Ferrous fumarate (elemental iron) 81 mg

Succinic acid 150 mg

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) 140 mg

Vitamin C as Ester-C ® ?

Ascorbic acid (as calcium ascorbate) 60 mg

Threonic acid (as calcium threonate) 0.8 mg

Folic acid, USP 1 mg

Vitamin B 12 (cyanocobalamin) 10 mcg

I almost died from not taking iron. YES, it can happen. You have to take iron no matter what especially if you are anemic. Without Iron in your body you cannot produce fresh blood to function. You do not need prescription iron to take iron. A simple over the counter iron pill hels. You probably need iron with Ferrous Fumerate. You can get it on the shelf at any CVS, Walgreens, vitamin shop. Start out with 2 a day for 3 months then go for a blood check. Seriously, you don't want to mess with this. Trust me, I almost died from not taking any iron.
Keep me posted.

I agree with Marie, I also got very sick from low iron. My surgeon sent me to a hemotologist and he put me on Repleva now Pruvate, since Repleva is no longer available here. I've been on this for a few months and my numbers have been going up regularly. So i'm doing much better. He said it could take up to a year to get my iron levels where they need to be. But he was also surprised at how well I have been absorbing the iron. If I hadn't been then I would have needed injections instead.

I have Empire BC/BS and the pills are covered. Good luck. But somehow you have to take your iron.

Nature made  iron  65mg  Equivalent to 325mg  ferrous sulfate,  300 tablets,

i bought it at warehouse named  BJ  warehouse, it was cheap,  $7.00 

I used to take Repliva and it was taken off the market when the generic Pruvate came out.  I now take the Pruvate and it works great.  But I agree with the above post.  I would see a hematologist to see how low your numbers are.  You may need a few iron infusions first and then be able to go  back on the Pruvate.  Anyone that has any weight loss surgery, can never go off any supplements.  Just in the first 5weeks that I couldn't take any pills, I wasn't taking iron.  I started it at my 5 week post op appt.  I developed iron deficiency.  Luckily it wasn't severe and after 3 weeks of iron, I was fine.  I have a history of iron deficiency anemia, so I am really conscienscious (sp?) about my iron.

I took Niferex 150 Forte many years ago and I liked that too but I think that may have been taken off the market with the Repliva.  I do think it went generic also.