Iron infusion tomorrow

 So my HGB went from 13 pre surgery to a steady 12 post surgery (in May of 2011) then in December it dropped to 11.4, by beginning of Jan it went to 10.9, then 10.6, 10.4 and then on Monday of last week it was 10.2 and by Thursday it went to 9.6 and now it's 8.9...it dropping so fast now.  

I feel like I'm in a daze.  I have stopped driving myself.  Tomorrow I have my first infusion.

Will I feel better right away?  Or will it take a few times?  Does it really take 3 hours?  Or is that longer or shorter then it actually takes?

I'm just scared since I have never had any complications and this is my first one.

Thanks!

I had a bout on new Year's eve. When I went to themER my HGB was 5. Yeah, you read that right. I got 5 units of blood and 3 iron infusions and was finally released from the hospital at 10. I've been slowly climbing since. Now to almost 13. As for the infusion time, it's certainly not fast, but 3 hours seems about right, you may also be faced with a small infusion before the big one as a test to see if you're going to develop any reaction to the infusion. They did this before each of the 3 I received even though I was in the hospital. That added about another hour by the time it was infused and then waiting for any possible reaction. Good luck.

My HGB was 8.2 when I was infused.  I had a series of 8 infusions, one per week for 8 weeks.  My first one took about 4 hours (mostly because they had a hard time getting the IV started).  But there was a small test dose that took an hour to infuse, followed by the regular dose which also took an hour. 

I did not start to feel better until the very end of the 8 week series.  It sucked.  I thought I'd feel a big difference right away, but did not.  Now, 3 months after my last infusion, my HGB is back up to 12.5, but my ferritin is under 10.  I'm sure I'll be looking at more infusions soon.

Good luck!  Once you start feeling better, you'll be like a whole new person! 

Hi Lisa,
I am in the middle of my daily iron infusion series. I have had 3 so far. I have about 3 more to go. Then the doc will see where I stand and we will go from there. He thinks I will needs boosts periodically, but that the initial series will help. I feel a little better already, but not great yet. I guess it all depends on the type of infusion and how much you get at a time. I am getting venofer. It's not bad. It usually takes me 2 hrs from the time I get to the office until the time I leave. Most of it is just waiting for a chair or waiting for the infusion once I get a chair. They aren't taking my blood out though, they just give me an iv with iron.
I am actually a few days pre revisional surgery. I had lap band 4 years ago and am having it removed and revised to bypass this Thursday! I am already anemic so my surgeon required me to get the infusion prior to surgery.
I noticed you also live in California. Where? Who is your hematologist? And where are you getting your infusion?
I live in Los Angeles and have been going to dr. Nassir at the cancer care institute on Olympic blvd.
Good luck tomorrow! I will also be getting infused tomorrow morning.
Leslie

 I live in Redlands, near Loma Linda University Hospital.  I am getting mine done through a cancer center as well, from the St. Bernardine Hospital.  I think my doctor said 4 to 6 infusions,  by my HGB us dropping so fast and my ferroin (sp) is SOOOO low it's at panic levels, that I just don't know what to expect.  I am just glad it is getting taken care of.

Can I ask you with your hemoglobin so low and your ferritin so dangerously low - have you been taking any iron?  I know many people on here say they dont absorb it so they take it but many dont' realize that there are only certain types that we can absorb and they have tried the wrong types.  I was in the hospital a few months ago and my iron plumetted to 23 from major blood loss and I needed a transfusion - they try to avoid infusions because I am allergic to it and I stop breathing.  They let me bring my tender irons -the 60mg carbonyl irons with vitamin C to the hospital and take at bedside - these most of us can absorb but need to take quite a few, so I take 4 at a time and within 5 days, I iron went from 23 to 100 and that is workign pretty fast in my book. I can't say for my ferritin because it was really high due to inflamation - severe inflamation - it skyrockets ferritin, so mine was like 450 but that didnt' mean anything.  At the same time, my hemoglobin was 7.8.  I got a transfusion and 2 procrit shots and my hemoglobin went up to 10.9 by time I went home.  Is your hemacrit low?  If so, have you had a procrit shot?  This really helps.

Have you tried tender irons?  Have you tried Proferrin?  some need a combination of the 2 - tenders work great on ferritin and proferrin works great on hemoglobin and hemacrit, so if you take both, you should do pretty well, it is work trying in between your infusions so you dont' plummet.


I got Iron infusions years ago but they must have been really high dose ones because they used to bring my ferritin up into the 500-700 range to give me along time until the next dose was needed.  I now see people say they get infusions and there ferritins are still 10, that I dont' understand _ what was the point?  If  a ferritin is still 10, then they got no storage and it didnt' do anything

 I have taken so much iron!  I have take pills, chewable and liquid.  I even got the 60 mg chewables with C from BA.com and would take up to 5 of them a day, with food.  I even stopped taking calcium for a week just to see if that would help with the iron, it didn't.  Plus I can't stop taking calcium.

I hope whatever this is that they are doing today works!  

I wish you the best with your infusion.  Part of the problem that people don't realize with bariatric advantages iron - the 60mg chewables and the others as well, they dont' have enough vitamin C for you to absorb them properly, so unless you were taking alot of extra C, that is why you werent' absorbing them.  You need 200mg of vitamin C for every 30mg of iron.  These were 60mg, so you needed 400mg of C and they only had 250 - if you multiply that times 5 tablets, that is missing a lot of C - basically you were missing 750mg per day.

The tender irons from vitalady.com - you get all the C in the capsule and you can take all 5 at one time plus you can then take proferrin at a different time in the day - the combination really helps people.  It might just be worth trying once in between your infusions so you dont' bottom out again.  But if you do use the proferrin - make sure you cut them in half.  You dont' have to stop taking your calcium - just 2 hours apart