HEME Iron brand names please

Hi:  can you tell me what HEME iron brands are available in the USA?  I am from Canada where we can get PROFERRIN, which is 11 mg of heme iron per tablet at about C$25-28 per bottle of 30 tablets. 

Just wondering if there different brands in the US other than Proferrin, with maybe more tablets per bottle, (and if so what are the mgs per tablet?) and whether nay cheaper than with us....Cross border shopping is always a possibility, and if you do have a  better choice or prices than here, I'm off to get me some HEME IRON....(with our prices here  it works out  to about $1 per tablet, and a 30 tablet bottle lasts only 10 days if you have to take 3 pills a day....and because my insurance doesn't pay for heme iron, only Palafer or other such iron salts, I'm looking to get Heme iron as cheaply as possible...
Thanks for any insight you can give  ( ie Walmart or Target or whatever..).

Hi! 

I'm not sure what HEME IRON is exactly, but I can tell you that I order all of my vitamins and supplements from BariatricAdvantage.com.  That's the company that my bariatric surgeon recommended.  They have lots and lots of supplements, so maybe what you're looking for is there? 

Where are you in Canada?  My husband and I vacationed there this past summer.  We were in the Banff/Lake Louise area.  So beautiful!  My grandmother was also Canadian.  She was born in Portage la Prairie in Manitoba. 

Good luck with your search and Merry Christmas!

Hi there:  Heme iron is derived from meat and is beef sourced, and for RnYers, is really the best as has the most absorbability and take-up is in our intestine, compared to all the other irons which are really iron salts, such as ferrous fumarate (Palafer).. These iron salts are not compatible with a whole slew of meds  as the iron inhibits adsorption of them which is why you have to take separately from calcium and dairy, on an empty stomach so not with food, not with B-12, etc etc...Heme has no such limitations and has the least side effects ( no constipation or the runs...)  It is a much more desirable for of iron, but it is expensive and usually not covered by insurance companies as they prefer you take the cheaper form of iron......You also don't have to take so much as each tablet of Proferrin ( Heme iron) is only 11 mg and three a day so 33mgs is for seriously depleted iron stores ( Palafer comes in a 300 mg capsule but only provides 100gms of elemental iron, so you take one a day but have to watch when you take it and away from what, and on an empty stomach, just like all the other iron salts)..

Because of the cost of about $1-per Proferrin ( Heme iron) tablet and if you need 3 a day and the bottle has only 30 tablets as  sold here OTC, you only get 10day's worth for $30, and when you are on 3 a day to raise your tanking iron levels and have to be on it for months, it's pricey which is why I asked whether any of you know about Proferrin maybe in more than 30 tablet bottles, or some other heme iron brand, and what the costs are and where sold...

I have tried Bariatric Advantage  products although not their iron,( I will look it up although I suspect it is ferrous fumarate), and I am not too crazy about a lot of their vitamins and sublingual B-12, although I do get their Wild Cherry chewable calcium "lozenges", and the calcium chews (raspberry and lemon) and even the Calcet Bites ( chocolate and lemon)  delivered to me here in Ottawa where I live, and to me when south on vacation at rental condos in Florida.

The only brand of heme iron I can find here is Proferrin in the 30 tablet bottle. It is so much kinder to our pouches and intestines compared to other sources of iron!  And I have IBS  which goes off on harsher meds and I really don't need the side effects with the other iron salts...

edited to add:
Just checked the Bariatric Advantage iron supplements and they all contain Iron (Ferronyl® carbonyl iron) and have added vitamin C to help in absorption...that's a clue that it is not heme iron, and is one of the iron salts supplements..so Bariatric Advantage iron supplements are not really what I am looking for...

I think you are better off and warmer where you are!  We have barely a bit of white on the ground, maybe get an inch of snow tomorrow afternoon so the kids can try their  toys outside in some white stuff...it is cold here though! Merry Christmas!

I use Proferrin ES from:

https://www.proferrin.com/order-online.php

It's $54.75 (US dollars) for a 90 tablet bottle. I've just started taking it and will get my blood checked in three months to see if it's making a difference. Hope this helps.

Jan

Thanks for responding...seems you/we are on the same brand Proferrin, although yours is Proferrin ES and 12 mg per tablet...I checked your site but the free S&H is only for within the USA, not abroad to Canada...so I will have to enlist a friend in the US to forward to me after free delivery to her!

Since posting ( and buying the 30 tablet size at a pharmacy here) I discovered the Canadian online site for Proferrin  ( only 11 mgs per tablet) and they have the 2 sizes for sale: 30 tablets, and 90 tablets ( C$72.85...big difference in the price especially as our dollars are almost at par!):

http://www.proferrin.ca/buy-proferrin-in-canada/


Good luck with getting your iron stores up...I'd be interested to know how you are in three month's time..are you taking 3 tablets a day or more?

 I was told I could absorb no more than 3 per day.  My red blood count is fine but I can't get my Ferritin up.  It's dropped to 17, and I was taking 360mg of the BA/day.  My doc doesn't take iron labs, but I'm going to ask her to next time.  Anyway, we'll see how the heme works.  Good luck to you too and let me know how you are doing.

Jan

Thanks I'll be sure to post resuts  here as well as on my " OH" home forum, the Ontario (Canada)  WLS forum.
You may want to check this link to the  OH Ontario forum re anemia after WLS:

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/on/4362023/All-I-know-about-Bariatric-Anemiaslong/