Iron Issues
You may, or may not, recall that I posted a while back about copper toxicity. I've been to a hematologist and it seems that the copper toxicity could, actually, be a sign of iron deficiency. While all of my iron numbers are "fine," they're on the very low end of fine, so this seems plausible. I had issues with iron when I went to donate blood as a kid, so that also helps with the plausibility.
I follow up with the hematologist tomorrow and I'm feeling a bit nervous, so I'm hoping that you guys can share some experiences with me so I'll feel less nervous.
If you had very low iron, how was it treated? Did you need infusions? What were those like? How many and how much time did it take? After the infusions, were you able to maintain iron on your own with a higher dose of it?
Thanks for any words of experience you can share!
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
What are your iron numbers? My iron level has been pretty good but my ferritin dropped really low about a year ago. I've been able to get it up with high doses of carbonyl iron (300 mg a day along with 2000 mg vitamin C).
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
My ferritin is 40, normal is 15-150.
So you were able to treat your deficiency just with more iron? That's really good to know. Can you take it all at once, or did it need to be spaced out?
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
40 isn't that bad for ferritin. Mine was 15 last year. They normally order iron infusions if it gets below 10.
It took three months of 300 mg iron (carbonyl iron, so that's 300 mg elemental iron) to get it up to 26. Nine months after that, it was 34. So yeah, just taking more iron helped, but slowly.
And yeah, you can take it all at once.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Thanks. Do you still take that much?
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
Yep,
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Sorry.. one more question. What iron do you take? I'm going to have to take 10 of mine to get as much as the hematologist wants me to take, so I'm hoping there might be a better option than my little 25mg pills!
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
Ha! I've been taking 12 of those little pills!
I just ordered the 60 mg Tender Iron from vitalady. It's 60 mg carbonyl iron per pill PLUS 400 mg vitamin C. So I'll only need five of those a day instead of 12 little iron pills plus two vitamin C pills.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
That seems like a good swap to make! I still have a bottle and a half of the 25mg ones I've been using, so I'll work through those before switching. Bariatric Advantage has a 60mg iron that's chewable and lemon lime. So that might be fun for me to try.
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
My iron is normal (72) but my ferritin levels are always high (355). The Bariatric Advantage chewable iron in Passion Fruit is delicious. I took it before I went to bed every night and thought I was eating candy.
Sorry to hear that the low iron could be causing the copper fluctuation. Maybe you should stop working out so much 
(Just kidding 
)
"Oderint Dum Metuant" Discover the joys of the Five Day Meat Test!
Height: 5'-7" HW: 449 SW: 392 GW: 179 CW: 220
