Help me with lousy blood work and vitamin/mineral schedule

So I've been very dilligent about taking:

Prenatal with iron & two Vit D3's - take these 2x's daily-  morning then evening
Every other day I take a sublingual B-12

I don't have the bottles handy but the supplements are of good quality and potency.

So here are my labs:

           result  5/17/12         (normal range BioReference Labs)    Last year 5/20/11

 Iron             31                                      (30 - 160)                                               123
 Ferritin          6                                       (10-291)                                                  11
Sat. Iron%      9                                        (20-55)                                                   32
Vit. B12       370                                    (211-911)                                               426
Folic Acid   14.29                                      >5.38                                                >24.00
Vit. D.           34.9                                   (32.0 -100.0)                                          43.2

Pre-op I had iron issues, with my band I had iron issues.  I dropped the ball AGAIN - how stupid right.  In the past my doc gave me Venofer infusions.  I have a case of carbonyl (spel) ironat home.

What would you do/take?  My biggest problem seems to be when to take my iron & Vit C so that it does not  cancel out due to me being a heavy coffee drinker and  taking the D.  I am honestly scared.  HELP please!

Thanks peeps!  It's raining like heck in NYC.

xoxo,
Zee

My D was where yours is now, right after my surgery, after 6 mo of 7000-10,000iu of D3 a day, I got it to 90. I'd UP that D3.

Iron- try Vitalady Tender Iron (never mind- just re-read, you have carbonyl.. same diff), it drove my ferritin way up (in fact I was supplementing when I didn't need it, so my ferritin got up to about 300) Lesson learned for me, don't take iron w/o a FULL comprehensive iron/sat/ferritin panel done! I took my iron before bed.. so it didn't get interfered with anything, plus I hated the burps..

B12, I'd get that higher.. I was doing 1000mcg sublingual a day as it was on the low side, now as of last labs I had gotten it up in the 700's and now I'm taking 500mcg a day.

Hope this helps!

Yes, it helps, thank you mucho!  I am going to print this at the the end of the day and get busy AND never forget again that I tend to tank.

Best,
L

Are you taking calcium w. D as well?

You def. need to up that D. I do the 50,000IU dry stuff from Vitalady. 2x week. My D started at 7 (yes...7) and now hovers around 90-100.

For B12, I do 5000IU every other day. I have to combat the effects of another med I take that kills my Bvites, but you are going to need either a higher strength of B12 or start taking it daily.

If you don't know when to do the iron, try right before bed (assuming you aren't popping a multi then, or if you are, move your multi up a couple of hrs)? or in the middle of the night.

Hey hun, how are you?


Yes, the the D3 has calcium.  I will certainly take your advise with all.

Thank you so much.

I'd be scared by these labs two. 

You need more iron.  I don't know how much is in your prenatal but it's obviously not enough.  So take more.  I take my iron and C at bedtime because I take my calcium earlier in the day and I don't drink coffee at bedtime.

By the way, why aren't you taking calcium citrate?  The ASMBS says you need 1500 mg a day, I believe.

Your vitamin D is quite low.  It should be at least 80.  I don't know how much D3 you've been taking, but you need to take a lot more.

Your B12 is dangerously low.  Below 400, you can develop permanent nerve damage in your hands and feet.  Are you not exhausted and depressed all the time?  If my B12 was that low, I would start B12 shots immediately, but if you don't want to do that, I would get the biggest dose of sublingual you can find and take it daily for a little while.

Yes, I am taking calcium citrate.  I was thinking about asking my doc for b12 shots - just got labs yesterday evening.  I will ask during my follow-up.

I'm certainly anxious to take action.  Yikes!!!  How did this happen I tell myself.

Thanks

You probably won't bring your iron and ferritin up with vitamins only.  Get yourself infusions, since you've had them before (I did venofer also) you know how much better you'll feel after.

B-12 time for injections.

Vitamin D - 50000 IU a day at least (order from Vitalady, one per day) then retest in 3 months.

Try not to be scared, these do need to be  raised and you want to be super diligent in getting them up.  The one that scares me the most is the B-12 right now. 

You numbers are really low.
I would try to get iron infusions and some B12 shots. teh rest you can most likely bring up with oral supplemenation.
I would suggest vit D3 50,000 iu once aday for 1-2 weeks ... then maintance 10,000 iU per day.

You are way beyond supplements to help with those dismall iron levels.  You need to get to a hematologist STAT and get an Infed iron infusion!  NOW!

Your b-12 is dangerously low!  Take 2500mg sublingual every day.  You want that over 1000.

Your d3 is way too low.  You want that to be at 80 at the least.  Get vitalady 50,000 unit dry d3 and take those to get that D up.  What are your calcium and PTH levels?