Need HeLP my 3 month labs are in- my iron is already terrible. Please advise

Got my first labs... I have had the hardest time getting my iron in as is reflected below, I have tried about 5 different brands/kinds...I am going straight to Proferrin I just need to know how many to take

potassium 3.0- they put me on Klor-con 20mg daily

B12-1500+.... They asked me to reduce my dosage

Iron-38L

magnesium-1.8 L

iron saturation-11 L

ferritin-15 L

PTH- 43

Vitamin D-54

Vitamin B1- 203 H

Zinc- .86

Copper-  .98

surprisingly cholesterol values, triglycerides, and glucose are normal for the first time ever 

 

If you can request proferrin forte, it is an RX with folic acid, recommend taking 2/day, can take with or without food, no vit c necessary easily absorbed won't chop up your gi system.   try that for 3-6 months-retest, (remember to hold all iron pills 5 days before blood work, as it will interfer with testing)  if that does not get your ferritin up you probably will need iron infusions.  Instead of klor-con ask for K citrate instead.  ya you don't need that much VB12.  if you are taking a B-50, suggest taking 1/2 as your B6 may also be high and that has a potential of some nasty adverse rxns.  continued success to you.

Thank you for your help!  I feel so defeated with this situation so early out-ugh

With a ferritin level of 15, I would get to the hematologist asap. You will not walk in one day and just get an infusion. They will have to run some iron absorption tests, etc to ensure you can't absorb it orally. I did two iron tests with two different types of iron, proferrin and carbonyl. My hema told me not to waste my time taking the iron until I knew if I could absorb it or not.

I absorbed neither iron, and therefore, had infusions. They were easy. I also had a uterine ablasion which has greatly increased the amount of time before infusions. Prior to that, I needed infusions every six months.

My hema has dealt with enough rny patients, that he was aware of the fact that I probably wasnt absorbing iron. The office was very easy to work with. Dr Schwartz at MSU Hematology in Lansing. But really, with the growing number of malabsorptive weight loss surgeries, I think most hemas are propbably somewhat aware of the difficulty we have with absorbing iron.