vitamin/iron deficiency

HI, I had RNY September '06, and I am doing pretty well.  My last labs indicated that I have low iron so the doctor started me on 50 mg. It has been three weeks and the constipation is SO bad. I take a colace when I take the iron, but it doesn't seem to help. I have only been able to go once a week and it is painful! I am wondering about iron shots. Are they available? Are the side affects the same as a pill?? Benefits? Drawbacks? Question #2 Last year I had a little white dot show up on one of my toenails. It has spread and my entire nail is white and now I see those same white dots popping up on other nails.  I have been to the Dr. - she said that it is not a fungus but she didn't really know what to recommend.  She drew some general labs (by the way she is not a surgeon, my PCM) but everything seemed to be okay. Does this indicate a deficiency in something?  Is there a specific test I need to ask for? Thanks for any help you can offer!!

Hi Nikko,  I am severely anemic and i take 325mg of iron 3x daily and i sooo feel your pain sister.... i have been scared to death of getting the shots as i am told that they are very, very painful and i don't want to have to go in for transfusions so i try to be as compliant with my iron as possible. I use the benefiber powder and i mix it with my protein shakes and oatmeal and soups, water, etc... it is flavorless and doesn't get thick or anything and i double the serving amount from 2tsp 3x a day to 4tsp 3x a day and then i take a correctol or 2 on top of that every night. good luck! ~Lori

My goodness, Lori!!  That sounds awful! I think I will try the benefiber - that was a suggestion on the RNY board, too. I was wondering about taking correctol. I haven't since my surgery. I am actually scared to....I had become totally dependent on laxatives before surgery...it was hard for me to get over. Thanks for the reply.  I hope your iron issues get better.  Congratulations on your weight loss!!  I have lost 125 pounds (and had a baby) since my surgery in 9/06. It feels great.

Hey Nikko,    Congrats on the baby and your tremendous loss as well! If you are worried about taking a laxative, try the benefiber first and see how that works for you, your dose of iron is nowhere near as huge as mins, so the fiber might be just the little push your body needs....(sorry, no pun intended) You can also try eating some dry cheerios as snacks along with the benefiber. I eat them like popcorn...and they help too...any way i can get a little extra bit of fiber in these days....

Or you could take a "heme" iron that is NOT constipating. Any form of ferrous sulfate is always VERY constipating. Take a "heme" iron (one that is made from natural sources, such as meat, blood, tissue etc). I was anemic as well and I take my iron twice a day. My heme iron is the only one that I can tolerate and have it do it's job. My ferritin level has gone from 7 to 60 in three months on this stuff. The one I take is called Hematinic Iron by Solgar. You can buy it from any Vitamin Shoppe or health food store. Just ask for a "heme" form of iron and stay from from anything that is ferrous sulfate or gluconate. Way too constipating!!

Lyn I saw another of your posts where you said you took potassium. Can you tell me what kind? I have periods where I have absolutely NO energy and I've been trying to add supplements to help and I don't take any iron right now but it's something I'm also looking into. I saw where you said we don't absorb the oil supps very well and that's what I've been taking so I'm going to switch to the ones you've listed and see how it goes. I'm also going to go and have my labs done it's about that time. I totally agree with you about being savvy about our health because different docs will say different things and it's our bodies and we know best how we're feeling and when things don't  feel right. My hair and skin have just gone down hill since surgery and thus far haven't been anything like before surgery. My hair has gone from full and thick to thin and baby fine my skin is dry and just not appealing. I've tried lotions and potions to no avail. Any advice would be helpful...where do you buy your supplements? I usually get mine at the commissary or Gnc. Thanks so much, Jamie

Hi Jamie,  I take potassium citrate. I buy all my stuff at The Vitamin Shoppe, mainly because I work there and it's convient to just buy it after work. If you are tired all the time, try upping your iron, adding a B-Complex 100 to your regime and make sure you are getting enough protein in. If you can't, add a couple of protein shakes every day. We need the amino acids in them, and they are sooo good for your hair and skin. But lifeless, thinning hair is a problem we all face during our first year or two. Mine took three years to get back to normal. I lost about a good third of the hair on my head! So I started taking 5 mg of biotin every day. (thats 5000 mcg, same amount) and silica twice a day. The biotin (a B vitamin, you can get it anywhere) makes your hair grow and the silica (horsetail extract) makes it stronger.  I also take a Omega 3,6,9 gel cap, twice a day. I have to take at least twice what it says for the dosage on the bottle, cause, again, it's a oil filled gel cap, but we need the essential fatty acids for healthy skin and joints. So I take enough for me to absorb it. (which is usually double the dosage on the bottle).  I would definately get my labs run to see where your numbers are. Also don't forget to ask your doc to check your ferritin levels. Thats how well your body is storing iron. Sometimes the doc's don't check your ferritin level and you have to ask them. Anyway, my regular iron numbers were ok, (barely normal) but I had no iron stored.  Thus, the fact I was exhausted all the time! My ferritin levels went from about 9 to 60 in three months. Normal is about 200, so I have a ways to go yet. But the "heme" iron I take is doing a good job. I take Hematinic Iron by Solgar. 3 tablets, twice a day. And not taken with calicium, they cancel each other out and you won't absorn either one. Wait 2 hours in between.  Oh, the potassium citrate comes in 99mg dosage. A banana is 550 mg, so you can take 3 or 4 capsules or eat a banana every day! I think it's a federal law or something that potassium has to be manufactured in a 99mg dose, why I don't know, but I do know that banana's have a lot of carbs so I take the capsules.  I hope my morning ramblings are of use to you! Have a great day!!

I could be illegal to have a higher dose because taking too much potassium can stop your heart. You could use it to kill someone very easily. In some states the lethal injection they use is potassium. Obviously they give more than 99 mg, but really, this is not something you want to mess around with. Be careful with this one. 99 mg shouldn't hurt you.