Question:
IV iron How long did it take after the first treatment to see results?

I had a series of 3 treatments in 1 week at the end of Sept/04. The specialist said I had to wait 3 months to let the Venofer work then get my blood checked. I did the blood work last week and will be seeing the specialist next week for the results. Physically I feel like the treatments did NOTHING. Still very tired and run down, too tired to do any meaningful exercise and am therefore a slow loser. My September feratin test was 1 and reticulocytes(baby red blood cells) were dangerously low. Bone marrow not producing enough, don't know if it is directly related to low feratin or something separate. Will find out next week. My question then is this---if you have had iron IV, and your feratin was similar to mine, how long and how many treatments did you have to get to "normal"? open rny, 150 cm bypass, aug/03, -105 lbs, 40 more to go.    — mary ann T. (posted on January 4, 2005)

January 4, 2005
Mary Ann, I do not know what my ferritin was before iron transfusions, but my hemoglobin was 10.6. I actually was feeling fine but my internist was not comfortable with it staying in that lower range, since it had been there for about 5 months. I had tried iron pills but could not stick with them because of the severe constipation it gave me. It also turns out that I was taking ferrous sulfate which we do not absorb well or at all. So it was all for nothing. I had iron infusions 4 days in a row in early Sept. and when I had blood drawn for my Nov. PS, in mid October, I was at 12.6, so it definitely worked for me. However, with donating a unit of blood for surgery and then the blood loss from surgery I am back down to 10.3. However, I decided I wanted to see if I cannot bring it back up with iron pills, so this time I am taking ferrous fumarate along with vitamin C each time. Fortunately this combo helped solve the constipation problems. This should hopefully give me the best chance of absorbing it too. When I am checked again in early March, we will see where things are. If it is still not up to normal then I will agree to the infusions. They are just time consuming and very expensive. My hope is that once it is up in the normal range that I can at least maintain it as long as I can avoid any more bloody type surgeries and since I'm out of money there won't be any PS in my future any too soon. I hope things turn out good for you.
   — zoedogcbr

January 4, 2005
I had 2 a week for 3 wks. Started Sept 14, last on was Sept 29. Labs checked Oct 11. All labs were exactly mid normal. First time since surgery! My ferritin started at only 5. I complained about the same thing. It seemed like I was tired for a long time after. I can say now, it is very slow and gradual. You will eventually notice that you have more energy. This of course depends if the iron took. Good luck!
   — ZZ S.

January 4, 2005
Mary Ann, I would have thought that you would have felt some improvement since September. Last year I was on low dose iron infusions(InFed) for 36 days straight. I began feeling better within the first week. In the first two weeks my hemoglobin went from an 8.0 to a 10.2 and my ferritin went from single digits to over 200. It took about 4 months for ALL of my levels to be in the normal range. My hemoglobin even went to 15.0 and that was after plastic surgery. Best wishes. Hope you are feeling better soon.
   — Pamela B.

January 4, 2005
Maryanne, i wold try taken chloraphyll 3x a day you can get it in pill or liquid form at any heath food store. you will notic a great improvment in a week and be able to see your lab work improving in less then 2 weeks.i had to have 2 units after surgery and the chloraphly keeps my iron levels up alot quicker and better then a transfussion. All the Best! Tracey
   — traceybubbles