Iron question

I have been doing Iron Infusions for the past few years... I was told that I would probably have to do them for the rest of my life. Has anyone been able to stop them and go on iron pills and keep their levels up?

Hi there !  I too had iron infusions for a year... and was also told I would need them the rest of my life.  I have been infusion free (ha ha) for a bit over a year now!! THANK GOD!  I eat iron rich foods and take no iron supplements at this point.  My iron/hemoglobin has remained steady.  Just to let you know, there IS hope :)  I hope for you you will not have to take iron infusions for long!! Good luck! Tina

Tina, I'm honestly not trying to thread jack! BUT! What kind of Iron rich foods and is there any special way you prepare them? I'm Iron deficiant and my doc has been threatening iron infusions- I've been trying a lot of diff things- but I'm a little scared to exit my food "comfort zone". SO! Please let me know what foods are working so well for you. Thanks!

Thread jack... ha ha.. that made me laugh!!  Look on the net for iron rich foods for the ones that you like.  I eat liver, dried fruit, broccoli, brussel sprouts.  Also, know that if you take iron supplements you should not take them with calcium or calcium rich foods.. the calcium soaks up the iron and your body doesn't get the nutrients from it.  My doctor told me if I take iron supps to take them 2 hours after calcium and with water only.  I never knew this.  My cousin is anemic and was told the same thing.  I hated those infusions SO much.... I hope you don't have to go down that road.   You are at goal weight.. GOOD FOR YOU!!! I am 7 years out and have gained 15 pounds.. am in the process of trying to lose that.... uggh.. it is karma I tell ya.. from saying to all those people that had 10-15 pounds to lose "what the heck, it is ONLY 10 pounds big deal, I have 100 to lose".. yep.. now I am in that boat.. bite my tongue.  Good luck to you!!!

I have the opposite problem because my body is stupid and stores Iron, so I have to be really careful not to get too much. If I get too much, I have to have a phlebotomy to drain my blood and bring the iron levels down. One of the things that I have to avoid ... and it just kills me, because I love it so much ... is cooking with my bare case iron pans. When you cook with cast iron, some of the iron from the pan leaches into the food that you prepare, so anything that is cooked in cast iron will 'gather' some extra iron and deposit into your bloodstream. If you haven't tried uncoated cast iron pans before, the are great. Once you get them 'seasoned' they are nearly maintenance free and non-stick without teflon and other stuff. You can get frying pans, but you can also get normal pots and pans. Of course, it's heavy, but it's a lot cheaper tha le-cruset and no needle sticks :-)!

Good luck,

Barb

have you been dx with genetic marker for hemachromatosis? if so, need to have the kids checked, too!

Absolutely ... actually when my father passed away as a result of complications of his unchecked hemochromatosis about 12 years ago, I was checked but they hadn't identified nearly as many markers at the time and misdiagnosed me as not having it. In 2006 I was feeling really bad and went to see my PCP and they ran a full CBC and picked up the significantly elavated iron levels ... from there another round of testing identified the newer marker. While the iron deficiency can truly be a problem for many, it has been a blessing for me.

Thanks for watching my back ...

Barb

My first feerritin test ever was done accidentally in 1999 (5 yrs post op) and it was nearly 800. I spoke to 6 docs about it, they all said no problem. ??? Stopped taking iron and it spent down at about 100 pts per year. Had a liver bx at some poitn and showed a teeny bit stored in liver. So, was ok, but had someone whose mom was in the long process of dying from it stay with me for her revision (long story), but she had screaming fits that no docs had gone further with it. Lke you, had her mom been dx long ago, she'd have been ok. That's when I had the BM BX.

Anyway, it did all spend down, and then spent another 2 yrs trying to stop the decent. Think I have my formula right, but ferritin was good, then really good, then perfect and then went a lil higher. A LIL higher doesn't scare me.

I wish you would shout it from the rooftops that hemachromatosis is NOT a disease you can "catch" from taking iron pills! If you take too many iron pills, your levels read high and you decrease. Simple, huh?

Other than you, for most WLS, we will fight iron the rest of our lives. I am very distal (much like DS) and we did find a good formula to hold us at perfect levels (we= my dh, too), but most will start iron pills far too late to avoid a major battle with infusions.

Sometimes when I am getting my infusions there is the nicest guy there who has the same issue that you do and we are always thinking....hmmm, if we could hook up to eachother he would get rid of it and donate it to me! Not!  Kind of like wishing I could donate part of my big butt to those in need of one... sounds like a win/win don't you think???

Yep! Too funny! I hope that you'll be able to get the iron levels up soon.

Barb