Low iron

[crohnicaly stinky]

low iron

I was denied as a blood donor due to low iron and I'm a guy for those who don't know. Makes me worry a little that things may not be doing so well. Funny thing is the woman who tested me said that's unusual for a man to be low on iron. I said well I have crohn's so it doesn't surprise me. She said, oh I have it too! We acknowledged each others "life challenge" and said a pleasant goodbye. So now what iron supplements? Sad thing is I ate a 16 ounce steak the night before.

 

[Rebecca85]

Yup, join the club! Best if you go to the doctors and get them to prescribe supplements, as they are much higher strength than otc ones. Multivits will only normally give you the recommended daily amount- to correct a deficiency you need more! As for why you are deficient, it could be occult (invisible) blood in your stools, maybe it's malabsorption, or I think (not 100% on this) that inflammation can use up your stores too quick. Or there could be a reason unrelated to your Crohn's. So you ought to have full blood work done before starting supplements, see if they can work out why.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

As far as occult blood in the stool, I was at the pharmacy picking up a prescription the other day, and I saw a kit for sale there to test your own stool for occult blood. It was about $10, and I saw it at Walgreens. The next time I'm there, I'm going to pick one up for myself. I've had my stool tested in the past and there was no blood then, but that was like a year ago so I just want to make sure that's still the case. And that test was fairly expensive because my doctor did it - it was certainly more than $10.

 

[glum chump]

I am constantly dealing with iron levels. If you get your blood work done and have an idea where your iron levels are at, then it might give you an idea of what kind of intervention to take. At first, my iron levels were a bit low, so I got my doctor to prescribe iron pills like Rebecca mentioned. But my blood levels kept getting lower and iron pills can be really hard on the tummy. My doctor then recommended iron injections/shots and I got them once a week along with a B12 shot. That helped, but I started bleeding internally quite a bit and needed a much stronger dose of iron, so was recommended to get iron infusions (IV) which they did weekly at the hospital and it took about three hours.

 

[Jennjenn]

My iron level is a little low and when I first went to the new specialist I have she checked my storage (ferritin levels) they were almost depleted. I go for ongoing iron infusions now and the levels are slowly increasing. It has been since the summer receiving them and I am still not at a normal level. The specialist has told me that it will take time for me to be built up again.
In the past when I used to take iron pills I would get sick and nauseous. I was told that the infusions are better because the pills are hard to digest, and could cause inflamation.

 

[vonfunk]

I've been severely anaemic since my diagnosis. Some times it's worse than others, i get bad in a flare because iron supplements can be rough on the digestive tract, so I tend to stop taking them.

 

[ameslouise]

Ditto all above. Best to check with your doc, get your levels tested, and then determine the best course of action.

I just got mine down, and will be starting weekly infusions soon.

Hope all else is good with you, Stinky! Happy Holidays!

-Amy

 

[crohnicaly stinky]

Ditto all above. Best to check with your doc, get your levels tested, and then determine the best course of action.

I just got mine down, and will be starting weekly infusions soon.

Hope all else is good with you, Stinky! Happy Holidays!

-Amy

Thanks Amy! Same to you, and I hope you're doing better. I'm in need of the doctor, nothing terrible but the low iron thing the other day and I feel like I am sliding a bit, actually had D wake me up the other night. So the writing is on the wall, I better go see the doc.

Take care!

 

[redstar3313]

I'm a guy and my Iron is really low too.

I've been taking 2 capsules of polyride Fe every day to try to boost my levels, it's the only supplement that didn't upset my stomach (I've tried palafer, eurofer)

Also I try to eat a lot of spinach

Hope this helps