LOW IRON

 Ok I am still doing the leg work before I have surgery. My primary doctor is concerned because I am anemic. She has gave me an iron pill that I will start soon, but I was wondering, even tho I have not started my 3 month supervised diet yet can I start protein shakes now to help boost my iron??? Well it hurt anything? Will it cause extra weight gain?? 

Please help

There'd be no harm in starting protein shakes, particularly if they lessen your calorie intake.  But it won't effect your iron.

 Ok....lower calories good...but not effecting iron is no good..thank you tons

If you want to increase your iron, you have to eat lots of red meats, liver and start taking iron supplements plus vitamin C.  Try getting some Feosol but make sure it says carbonyl iron - take 2 per day for starters.  To go with that, take 600mg of vitamin C - all in one dose and make sure none of the iron is taken within 4 hours of your calcium or thyroid medication.  Post op, you only have to wait 2 hours.

I highly recommend getting floradix iron supplement, it's liquid and more absorbable than regular iron tablets, even if you've not had surgery yet. You can get it at any health food store like whole foods, it's not very expensive and it doesn't taste too bad.

 I use this: http://www.ritecare.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl

the liquid one, it's similar to floridix, but I like it better, you dont have to take vit c with it, because it's plant based and absorbed immediately. It brings iron levels up faster than any regular iron pills. I was severely anemic after surgery and a midwife recommended it, and within one month I was not only normal my hemoglobin was fantastic! I went from 8-12, which is HUGE. 

How anemic are you, what was your hemoglobin and hematocrit, if you don't know the numbers, you should ask, you have the right to know. Hemoglobin should be >12 if not higher. 

 

Hope that helps.

Shelley

How Fizzy is this product? Does it create a fizz like soda might? Just wondering.

Thanks Skip

I know you posted this awhile ago, but I just saw it and wanted to respond. I have been fighting my blood count all year, had iron infusions and constant bloodwork to see what was going on. I started off the year with a ferratin level of less than 1 (basically NO iron at all in my body) and a blood count of 6. It was determined by my hoard of doctors that I simply was not absorbing much from my diet, and that due to heavy periods I needed a hysterectomy and heavy supplimentation afterwards. I had the hysterectomy in June, and changed my diet some...and now my blood count is 13 and iron levels holding steady. One of the most important things I learned was that my B12 level was super important. I was previously quite ignorant to that and had no idea that B12 had anything to do with anemia. So now I eat lots of leafy spinach, canned spinach and also lots of red meat....but what made the biggest difference for me was something called "Zip Fizz" which is a powdered energy drink additive that you put into a bottle of water and shake up. http://www.zipfizz.com/ It has extremely high levels of B12 and lots of other great stuff. I am not a big fan of energy drinks, I think that stuff is generally b.s. and I also don't drink soda or coffee...so I'm just a plain old water girl generally. I am now a zipfizz addict. One tube does two 16oz bottles, and I generally drink 4 to 6 bottles a day. I refill my daily plastic bottle with fresh cold water and carry it to the gym, to work, everywhere I go. The colder the water the better the taste...I especially love the grape flavor, but all three are great. It's available at Costco, and I buy it by the case. I swear it has made a huge difference for me, and I just had plastic surgery last Tuesday, which I thought would be impossible due to the anemia. Anyway, just thought I would share that. I'm not necessarily saying someone should consume as much of it as I do, but I can say that it was a huge factor in regaining my numbers back to 'normal' range. PS I did use Floradix as well, and it worked well and tastes ok if you shoot some orange juice afterwards. :)