Iron Infusions experience...

Jenn-

How are you feeling?  I went for bloodwork again today... see the hematologist again next week.  Been on the tender irons for a few weeks.  Not feeling good, my eyes are burning again, which was a bad sign last time that my iron was really low :(   I will know next week how my levels are... but you probably got your bloodwork back...

Shoot me an e-mail, I have been thinking about you :)
Hope you are feeling good!

What type of iron are you taking and how much of it? If you are taking anything with ferrous in the name, dont' waste your money.  In order to absorb these types of irons, we need a highly acidic stomach which we dont' have post op.  We need to take carbonyl iron with vitamin C or heme iron.  Heme iron works the best but is very expensive, so most of us use carbonyl iron with vitamin and it works great.  Go to vitalady.com and get tender irons - they are 60mg capsules and have the vitamin C already in them.  With your levels, I would recommend taking 3 per day to start and then you can adjust from there based on future labs.  Some take up to 5 per day if needed.  You can take it all in dosage.  They are very cheap. 400 of them is only 26.99 - they are very easy on the stomach, non-constipating and highly absorbably.  Just make sure you don't take them within 2 hours of your calcium or thyroid medicaiton

Above you said your iron was 11 and now you are saying your hemoglobin is 11, there is a big difference.  Some how if you have a ferritin of 85, I doubt your serum iron is only 11.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was reading my bloodwork for the last post.

My hemoglobin              is currently 11.
My IRON, SERUM          is currently 73.
My FERRITIN, SERUM is currently 85.
My iron saturation          is currently 21.

If there are any other numbers you want - let me know.  I have the bloodwork right here.

I am just wondering why we are all on different irons?  These doctors know we all had WLS-and they are giving us different irons?  I am going to call Dr. Trivedi, my surgeon, on Monday.   There has to be a protocol with this?  I am just discouraged right now, forgive my negativity.

Happy Weekend to us all :)

Asking your surgeon may just get you more confused.  Surgeons are trained to cut not in supplements and nutrition.  My surgeon wouldnt' dream of recommending what supplements I should take.  That is what nutritionists are for. Then there is the problem with many nutritionists - some are great and really know what they are doing - others don't.  Some are just regulare nutritionist/dieticians with very little training in bariatrics and dont' know much about the best supplements for us and then there are the good ones that really know there stuff.  There are tons of NUTs out there still recommending flintstones chewables, calcium carbonate/TUMS, gummy vitamins, no B12, no iron or the wrong iron, no vitamin D and then wonder why there patients have deficiencies or actually tell them there labs are fine when they really stink.

Many of us at OH have the experience from living through our surgeries and deficiencies, know what works and what doesn't.  We do the necessary research and discuss it with other post ops and learn what we need to learn.  So, if you really want to know what is best, ask the experts here.  Ferrous irons will do nothing for you - you need carbonyl iron with vitamin C or heme iron.  Heme is very expensive, so most take the carbonyl and it works great.  Another option that some NUTs give out is some prescription irons have Poly iron which works on some but be careful because the poly irons, dont' have enough vitamin C in them to help you absorb the iron.

I did it!
I finally ordered the tender irons from vitalady.com.
They are not expensive themselves, $30 for 400 capsules, but shipping is $11!
ouch.
If they work-I will gladly pay 10 times that amount though :)
Thanks for the help.

I am so glad that you ordered the Tender irons.  It really should work for you.  I would take a  minimum of 3 per day and give it 2 months and get your labs rechecked.  If you dont' see a significant increase in your ferritin, then increase to 5 per day. The next step after that is to order Proferrin, also from vitalady.com and take a combination of the 2.  If you get to that point, please PM me and I will definitely give you more info at that point.

I will say that once I went onto the tenders, my ferritin went up 40 points in 2  months,  I was at a higher starting point but it still went up. 

Here is my situation.  Prior to gastric bypass my ferritin was 98.  I had my last period the day of surgery and didnt' tell my NUT this and she has all females take 150mg of iron daily post op, so that is what I took - it was prescription iron.  Well, in 6 months my ferritin went up to 400.  It was good iron and I wasnt' bleeding plus I started with a decent level to begin with.  So, I was already seeing a hematologist because I have a history of iron deficiency in my past and he told me to stop my iron which was my first mistake but I listened. He said since I was post menopausal and my ferritin was so high I didnt' need it anymore.  He didnt' take my malabsorbtion into play at all.  Well, 3 months later my ferritin was 220 and again 3 more months (a total of 6 months in all) I was down to 48.  That was quite the plummet from 400 to 48 in 6 months.  I was frantic - I didnt want it to get any lower and at that rate, I was going to need IV iron infusions which I am  highly allergic to.  So, I quickly ordered the Tender irons from vitalady.com and took 3  per day and that is how I inceased my levels. In 2 months, my levels were back up 98.  IT has been another 3 months and can't seem to get them any higher (would like them up around 200), so I have since increased to 4 per day.

I wish you the best and hope all works out for you