Need a good iron vitamin for teen

[Momoftwo]

Any ideas on a good multivitamin with iron got my teen daughter? She is petite for age 16 so too much iron hurts her belly. Flintstone complete is what she is taking at the moment. She said the citrus of it breaks her mouth out. Dr said she is low on protein, but she can't tolerate any boost or ensure. I even bought some gf dairy free chocolate drink with protein and what to you know,.,,,hurt her. Thanks for any advice in these areas.

 

[Faithsg]

My son age 10 was taking slow fe 45mg 1-3 times a day when his iron was low. The pills are small and not too bad on his stomach. He just takes a gummy multivitamin and vitamin D. The slow fe is from Walgreens

 

[CarolinAlaska]

Try ferrous gluconate, I think it is easier on the gut. My daughter, when she is doing poorly, can't tolerate the Ensure thick drinks, but we just found that Ensure Clear is much easier on her tummy and fairly tasty too.

 

[Tesscorm]

Although my son is older now, his gi did once mention that children's vitamins are more easily absorbed. I don't hv a specific brand to suggest, justbthatbyou may want to stick with children's vitamins for now.

As for iron, kimmidwife has mentioned a liquid iron that is easier to tolerate. I believe its called floradix - but hopefully she'll be along to confirm the brand name.

For protein, my daughter (with no crohns), adds flavoured protein powders to plain yoghurt everyday to add protein to her diet. She also mixes chocolate or cookie flavoured protein powders with water or milk and uses it as a sauce for pancakes.

:ghug:

 

[malorymug]

We do the ferrous gluconate too. I was told to take it with OJ on a fairly empty stomach to get the best absorption. My son is still anemic, still working on it.

As far as protein, my boy won't do the shakes either, I sprinkle whey powder (plain no flavor) on everything. He doesn't taste it and it isn't gritty. If you can buy it in bulk, it is much cheaper. Just get a little and see if it helps. I don't think the fancy, expensive muscle building stuff is necessary.

 

[ncman]

In the past I've used a liquid iron, sodium federetate, which I could tolerate. All the iron tablets, ferrous gluconate, sulphate, fumarate, just upset my system.

 

[FrozenGirl]

I like feramax. It is a pill and pricy but it doesn't bug my stomach. It's an heme iron polysaccharide.

 

[Jenn]

Centrum multivitamin is comprehensive. there's a chewable, but the ctirus flavor might aggravate her too. There are some great protein bars now, but check label for not too much fiber for IBD. My son was stubbornly low on protein until we added 6mp to his Humira for a year.

 

[Momoftwo]

Thank you, I actually bought a gluten free protein bar, low fiber, sounded great till I got home and she noticed it had sugar alcohol which causes gastro issues. She said the flint stones are so acidic to her mouth, so I am just at a loss.

 

[crohnsinct]

You can try grandma's trick...cooking with iron pots and pans. Our GI had us switch over early on in my daughter's treatment. Also, cooking with black strap molasses...cookies anyone?

 

[kimmidwife]

Try Floradix, it is an amazing liquid iron supplement and they make a multivitamin with iron too. It is very gentle and well absorbed. I used to reccomend it to all my pregnant patients.

 

[Momoftwo]

Thank you so much, do I put drops in with food?

 

[kimmidwife]

It comes with a little medicine cup and you pour it in. You can mix a with a drop of grape juice or orange juice and it tastes good.

 

[Momoftwo]

Thank you so much for this info, I really need help in one more area and it is that my daughters protein is low. She is unable to drink any protein drinks, protein bars that do not have high fiber (she always had constipation so fiber no good)always have the sugar alcohol. Red meat is tolerated at small levels, eggs not so much. Can you help in any way?

 

[Momoftwo]

Ps, is the protein and iron being low connected?

 

[crohnsinct]

My daughter is a vegetarian. We use a lot of nuts and seeds. and nut butters. Hemp seeds are an excellent source of protein. Eggs...avocados.

I will keep thinking on what we use and post more later.

 

[Momoftwo]

I just placed my order of the Floradix, so thankful for this info!

 

[xmdmom]

I was also wondering about your mention of protein and multivitamin with iron.

If your daughter's blood shows low protein, that strongly suggests that her Crohn's is active. While eating protein can help, it's most important to get the Crohn's under control and that will in turn normalize protein and other issues such as anemia. Just to be clear, multivitamins don't affect protein levels.

 

[crohnsinct]

^true that! I actuAlly thought the same thing after I posted. One deficiency ok but multiple it is time to start confirming what is going on with disease.

 

[Tesscorm]

If she can't eat eggs, can she tolerate just egg whites? Egg whites are a good source of protein.

But, second, checking on crohns' activity.

 

[Momoftwo]

Ok, thanks, dr just upped her humira from 20 to 40 once every two weeks, that's when they told me she was low in protein. She has had 3 -40 mgs since then and doesn't seem to be coming out of flare too quickly. She was 15 when dx last year and low weight, so since humira upped the weight guidelines she did 20 mg while gaining some weight. It was a year on 20, helped for a few months then slowly I could see decline. Just wondering if the humira is not working for her, or maybe it will take some time for the 40 to show some improvement. Although, I thought for sure by now after being on the 20 for awhile that the 40mg should have been seeing great results. Maybe too soon? Thanks again you guys, I appreciate you.

 

[my little penguin]

When DS increased from every two weeks to every week it took six humira injections or six weeks to see the difference.

 

[Maya142]

I agree, it might take a while. It took 2 months after moving from humira (40mg) every two weeks to every week. Some kids just take longer. My older daughter was put on steroids while we waited for it to kick in.