My primary care doc says I need to take 325 mgs of iron??!!

Ok..  I am getting conflicting information. My surgeon said my iron levels are fine and the 29 mg Bariatric Advantage chewable I am taking daily is good. Well I had an appt. with a new primary care doc and he said he wants me to take 325 mg's of iron!!!!!   That's huge isn't it????  Has anyone ever been told to take that much... especially when their labs dont show that  iron level are low???? -Marianne

That seems like a lot of iron, especially when your numbers are not low.  There are a couple different numbers in our lab work that deal with iron; one of them is an indicator of your iron reserves.  Some times the iron in our blood is good, but our iron reserves are low.  Not sure if that's what's going on here, but it's a possible explanation.   I'd call the new PCP and ask him to explain why he wants you to take such a large dose of iron.  Perhaps it was just a mistake, which does happen.   Good luck on your continuing journey -  Kellie

The confusion may be that your doc wants you to take 325 mg of iron sulfate or iron fumerate.  The stuff that the iron is mixed with contributes to that weight - so this isn't an amount equivalent to elemental iron.  In most preparations, there is about 10-20% elemental iron.  The rest of the weight is something else. Your best bet - Clarify what they mean.

325 mg of iron is in the iron sulfate form... usually when having weight loss surgery we are told to take chelated iron...like 25 or so mg... this is less constipating and digested easier than iron sulfate.  I would make sure the new primary understands the type of surgery you had.  Good luck!