No China?

I had my yearly appointment with my bariatric surgeon yesterday.  I spoke with the bariatric surgeon, the bariatric nurse, and the NUT.  One thing we talked a lot about was vitamins.  They recommended changing my iron to Ferrous Gluconate.

Both the surgeon and NUT talked to me about their recommendation to use OPURITY vitamins.  They want their patients to use vitamins that do not contain ingredients from China.   

Both of these recommendations surprised me.  I have been buying vitamins and iron from Walmart.  My ferritin levels had gone down and they believe that I am not absorbing all of the iron I was taking (Ferrets tablets).

Do they sell Opurity in their office?

I personally prefer carbonyl iron.  It's all elemental iron and is absorbed well without a lot of stomach acid and is unlikely to cause constipation.

I'm not familiar with Ferrets tablets.  What kind of iron is that?  How much have you been taking?  Many post ops end up needing to increase their iron a lot as they get further out, although of course that should be based on your labs.  For the first few years, I was fine on 75 mg iron (that's carbonyl, so all elemental iron) but a year ago increased that to 300 mg because while my iron level was great, my ferritin kept dropping.  It's slowly going up again now.

Ferretts is ferrous fumarate 325mg (106 mg elemental iron per tab) by Pharmics INC.  

I know how this sounds and apologize if it makes anyone uncomfortable.  But I also try not to buy anything that has to be ingested that comes from China, not even for my dogs.  They do not have a good record for safety when it comes to these products and I am just not willing to take any more chances on it, and yes, I do realize that EVERY country has it's sins to account for.  But I would have to agree with your doc and NUT on this one.

The Ferrets are carbonyl iron 325 mg twice a day on an empty stomach.  My iron levels have been fine since surgery and were down a bit six months ago when my PCP did blood work.  My PCP just said to start taking iron pills and I picked the Ferrets.  They did not help. 

My surgeon's office sells Bariatric Advantage, but referred me to Unjury for the Opurtiy. 

I started out with no iron supplements because I had had a hysterectomy and my levels were staying high.  Now I am being told to start supplementing with the Ferrous Gloconate because it is easily absorbed.

I will just give it 90 days and see what happens.

My ferritin was 24 and I am 66 years old.  A year ago it was over 100.  This is what the report says:

Adult females 17 - 60 years: 13 - 150 ng/mL
Adults greater than 60 years: no established reference range

The Proferrin Heme iron worked really well for me. I take the prescription form to get help from ins on the cost. 2 a day for 3 months, rechecked and it was good so I take one a day now. Just what worked for me..

A nasty experience from Chinese imports

I am very careful now. This effect from Chinese pine nuts affected me quite badly for three or four days. After a lot if reading it seems to be only in pine nuts imported from China where there are lax quality controls over pine nuts picked from wild trees. 

Although I do understand the issues with quality control in China (and I no longer feed my dogs anything produced in China), the percentage of vitamin ingredients that are sourced from China varies a lot from one manufacturer to another, so it isn't like it is a choice only between vitamins with everything from China or nothing from China.  (Unfortunately, it is VERY difficult to get straight info on what those percentages are.)

I personally think that some of the concern over vitamin ingredients from China is overblown, and I am personally not concerned enough that I am going to pay twice as much for Opurity as I spend for Centrum, especially since the variety of minerals is higher in the Centrum.  I do,muni weber, choose to take the Centrum rather than a generic version because one if the claims that has been made is that the generic versions are cheaper BECAUSE they get more ingredients from China.  I don't know whether that is true, but it does make sense, so I personally choose to stick to the name brand rather than generics.

I would suggest that people do some research on the claims about vitamin ingredients from China before they decide to spend that kind of money. It adds up over a year and definitely adds up over many years.

Keep in mind that those of us who are, um, "older" are -- at some point -- probably going to need to increase supplementation in order to overcome the natural decrease in our body's efficiency at absorbing nutrients.  Perhaps that is part of what is happening with your iron??  Just a thought.

Lora

• My surgeon's handouts still recommend Centrum or an equivalent.  I had been buying generic versions. The concern with me not absorbing as well might have sparked the discussion about ingredients from China.  This is the first time any of my labs have been low, except for the vitamin D.  And in cloud covered NE Ohio, low vitamin D is almost universal.  

It is funny that you mentioned age, because I have a tendency to forget about that.  I know I am 66, but feel usually feel more like I am 17.  The last few months I had been feeling tired more easily.  I usually have my labs in October, but went in early because I was sure something was not right.  I sprung for the extra money right now because I am going to do whatever it takes to keep feeling my best.  

Actually I am relieved that it was dropping labs and not something like a cancer or other disease that was causing the tiredness and general run down feelings.

I am surprised at how much I am learning about how our bodies change as we age. 

Here in SW Ohio, my PCP says that the vast majority of people that he has reason to check Vit D levels for are deficient. He is checking it more frequently (despite the cost of the test) because he is finding that getting their D levels up greatly improves how many people feel and often seems to be the culprit (or at least a contributor to) their physical complaints.  I would expect that would be true for iron as well.