Iron Anyone???

[tanjo]

When I was pregnant both times my iron was low, and I ended up having to take another iron supplement along with the daily vitamin.

I just had some blood work done to check everything out as a follow-up, my chloresterol was out of whack before and had "syndrome x". Now, everything came back fine (yeah, thanks to running I am sure) with the exception of my iron. My doc said to take a multivitamin with iron and check back in 4 months.

That would explain the tiredness that I have been feeling. I know I am not pregnant (for sure), and I want to make sure that I can rectify the situation.

The question is, is there anything else I can do? I eat lots of green leafy veggies and have lean red meat once/week. I think I remember reading something about iron not absorbing properly in vitamin form, does anyone know about this?

Thanks for your help,

Tanya

[Jwolf]

I have had similar problems with iron.
Best thing is to take the muiltivitamin supplement as your doc recommends (I take a prenatal supplement). Just don't take it with milk, which can hamper the absorption. Better to take it with a little juice (something with vitamin C). You can't really get a lot of iron from green vegetables, so if you don't eat a lot of meat (including chicken or fish), it's easy to get low. And more aerobic exercise accelerates the breaking down of hemoglobin in your blood.

I actually had no trouble with iron while I was pregnant, because my problem is mostly because of very heavy periods. I've sometimes used the pill to control that, but the pill causes other problems that I don't like. So I try to avoid it.

Has your doctor checked both your hemoglobin and your ferritin (the protein in your cells that uses iron, and is mostly for storing iron)?

[wantmeback]

I take an iron supplement also. My iron is on the low end of normal. Like Jen recommends, I try to take the iron tablet with vitamin C, and not within an hour of having anything with caffeine. Caffeine can affect the absorption of iron, so another tip is to not drink coffee within an hour of a meal.

From the nurses at the blood donor clinic, I have had both beets and Shreddies recommended to me. Actually, either of these seems to help boost my hemoglobin significantly on the days I donate.

I have heard from others that iron supplements can upset your stomach (doesn't happen to me), so if this happens, take it with a meal.

[tanjo]

Thanks for such quick replies

After looking at the differences between what is in a normal "womens" vitamin and a prenatal one, I opted for the prenatal one. 3 times the iron, go figure.

DrJ, I do eat meat, probably 4-5 times/week. Mostly chicken.

I have been off the BCP for over a year now, and my periods are pretty bad, but I have PCOS so I wanted to make sure that my body was working the way it should on its own. Finally things seem to be back on some sort of regular clock. I attribute that to losing some weight and running. Maybe going to 4 days/week is what made me feel more tired if my iron was already low...but I won't stop, I love this new schedule.

gjennifer thanks for the tip regarding caffeine. I always used to take my vitamins with breakfast, with my coffee, I will try to do it at lunch instead. I will also add shreddies to my list!

Thanks for your help!

Tanya