Ferritin Level 6

Just had 1 yr bloodwork.  Ferritin dropped from 41 before RNY, to 26 at 6 mos, to 12 a month ago, and now to 6.  Now I'm on prescription iron supplements for 3 months.  My question is just how bad is 6, and have others found the supplements helpful?  I've been taking a multivitamin with iron all along.

The double edged sword of a malabsorptive procedure. 6 is not good for sure (I had 2 and took iron w/c since the beginning, just happens sometimes) 2 -30 minute iron infusions a week a part  (new-ish called injectafer http://www.injectafer.com/ ) and I was back up in normal range again.  Ask your Dr about those... sometimes we just don't absorb the oral stuff. 

~Michelle "Shelly"

I'm almost 8 years out and I also needed infusions. My hematologist isn't telling me to go back to oral supplements. My infusions were in Feb of this year. Shelly, what's your hematologist recommending you do? Are you back to supplements? 

Karen

He never had me go off them. All my labs were perfect except iron so he said just keep doing what you are doing and we'll get the level back up and watch it so labs every 2-3 months for a year. 

Hope you get back in norm range too :)

Just got back my first blood work after two years. (Lost my insurance, got a new position and got it back.)
Everything was normal range except blood level iron and ferritin. It was 5. And I had been feeling like hammered **** without knowing why. So I've started taking daily iron supplements, feeling noticeably less tired, though still not exactly cracking along. But yeah, that's pretty dang low, and I would imagine you're not feeling great, either. My nails had been getting really brittle and peely, I was just bone-tired all the time, getting every bug that came along - very unlike me, I usually have very good resistance.
I need to be retested in a couple of months, and then I will decide if I've seen enough progress to just stay the course with daily supplements.
Good luck!

My ferritin was 7 back in 2010 and I got an infusion and since then it has been trending down no matter what I do so I had another transfusion recently and I will be checked every 3 or 4 months and if it starts tanking again I will get another.

My doctor said that some WLS patient just don't absorb iron well after surgery.

I felt terrible, too, for several weeks and since the infusion I feel like a new person.

Yep that's what my Hemo said to me... we may just fight this forever... so every few months a retest and possible infusion. That injectafer was awesome (and quick) if you aren't getting that one ask your Doc about it... I guess it has less adverse reactions (hives, headache, nausea that others too) 

Hope your numbers stay in the black!

Yes I RNY in 2006 and my iron tanked in 2011 while I was taking the oral I had to go on the infusions and in 2013 I started having worse complications and was needing them every 2 weeks needles to say I had a reverse at the end of 2013. So yes I don't think we can absorb it after awhile and once you start infusions I'm sure its for life. Since my reverse its just one of my benefits no more infusions.