Should I just give DD (13) iron tablets?

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DD is 13 and has been complaining for a few months of being lightheaded and dizzy, seeing spots etc. she gets quite heavy periods so I thought she might be a bit anaemic. She’s also been really lethargic, she usually quite energetic.

Took her to GP for bloods, he’s come back and said her iron is low, but because it’s within ‘normal range’ he won’t prescribe tablets, just advised to eat spinach and other iron rich foods.

But the problem I have is that her level was the very lowest for the normal range - can’t remember if he said 15 or 50, but he said it was bottom of normal range.

So surely, even if it’s within ‘normal ranges’ it may not be optimal for her, if it’s the lowest number in that range?

Debating whether to just order some, but no idea which ones to order.

Just not nice to see her walking about looking so pale and quite frankly sickly looking. She’s always saying she’s tired too.

Can anyone give advice on the best thing to order for her?

Spatone is good. Its a small amount of iron rich water in a sachet. You add it to a glass of orange juice - the vit c aids absorption. Its aot gentler on the stomach than Iron pills. I used it for a few months after having DS2 as I hadn't a lot of blood - perked me up.

I've always taken Feroglobin, orange(ish) flavour liquid.

Spatone won't touch proper anemia.

Get her a bottle of Syton liquid iron - the tablets are really hard on your stomach but the liquid is much gentler and ime uch better absorbed. Iirc it's 5-20ml per day but it tells you the dose on the bottle. I can grab a snap of the label when I get home if you like!

She just needs to eat more red meat, we're omnivores and menstruating women need more iron. In my teens and forties, I needed red meat a couple of times a week.

Ive just started my 12 year old on iron tablets for the same reason, dr also put her on the pill to make them lighter but I’m dubious about that cos of her age so trying iron tablets and multi vitamins for a bit to see if it helps.

Hi OP,
Just for your own information I would pop by your GP practice and ask for a copy of your daughters blood test on paper.

My son has had a blood test recently. The text we got after said everything was normal except raised platelets, but his printout is covered with alerts and out of range stuff. A couple of things that are in range are scraping the bottom of range like your daughters iron.

When I asked for a copy of my son's blood test the administrator was training another admin and said the patient is always allowed their results and sent them to the printer/handed them over straight away.

I think other investigations will be needed for my son re other things but as far as his low B12 and iron we havd been trying to focus on nutrition- have lots of beef - he has probably eaten beef every other day - often in cheaper forms like spag bol, home made burgers but also roast dinner or a sandwich. And more eggs which I hope should help with B12.

My son has bloods due again this week so we will see if it has made any difference. It might be that other issues are contributing to his low levels.

I have read that while there is iron in spinach it is mostly in a form that is not able to be absorbed by the body but I have not looked into this more.

Anyway I guess I am saying can you try lots of iron rich foods and ask for bloods to be done again in a month or two?

Thanks for the advice all, I think I’ll go to the GP and get them to print out the results.

I’ll have a look at the liquid iron. I think it will be better as She also suffers from constipation 😩so also weary of giving her anything that may block her up.

I tend to cook with mince quite a bit, spag Bol, tacos etc, but will try and up it, maybe burgers etc.

Does she take any multivitamins in general? It might be helpful.

Is she eating iron-rich food together with vitamin c and avoiding dairy at the same time? I found that enabled me to address it with diet. (I also switched to black bread but probably she won’t fancy that.)

Her favourite veg is curly kale, which I think is quite high in iron. And she loves a steak! She’ll also eat spag Bol etc. so does eat a fair bit of red meat. She also loves tangerines and OJ etc, but never really together with the iron rich foods.
I’ve just been reading that taking iron with vit C helps absorption, so think I’ll start making sure she has fresh orange with her dinner or something.

Get her some wellteen tablets. They really helped dd and I swear by the well woman ones.

No, no multivitamins. I used to give her the vitamin gummies, but not sure that’ll be enough now?

I just worry it’s a tough age, as she’s losing a lot of blood every month, but she’s still a child so weary of giving her too much of anything.

Just frustrating at the GP, as it sounded more like a computer says no type thing, even though he said she was at lowest end of the range.

I would have thought it would be worth it to maybe try it, but as I said weary of giving of not been prescribed, purely for dosage reasons really.

Thanks I’ll take a look for this

The GP would likely prescribe ferrous sulphate or ferrous fumate and you can buy both over the counter.

The liquid iron tastes awful. There's absolutely no covering it for me! Orange juice did nothing to disguise taste. It's drinking pennies!

My daughter is 12 and her bloods came back on the low side of normal for iron. GP wouldn’t prescribe but did advise I buy her some iron tablets.

She too has sluggish bowels and OMG the constipation they caused was truly horrific. Be very wary.

@TeenLifeMum does well teen include iron?

I remember searching a while ago and found it hard to find tablets with iron.

I second wellteens tablets or anything similar, Boots has quite a few options and you can ask pharmacist about the dosage if you are not sure.

Yeah, that’s a big concern.
Think I’ll go down the liquid iron route if I do go for supplements

My son had an iron test as part of other investigations, his iron was 9 and I was still instructed to buy over the counter iron gummies/tablets as I see fit

The constipation is why I have a love hate relationship with iron.

Any iron she does take, have with a small glass of orange juice. I find branflakes for breakfast help a lot with constipation but have to have them daily.

I have issues similar to this and so I can, as anyone can, have the iron tablets, or you can feed her very iron-rich foods.

Spatone does fix proper anemia.

I was sat waiting for an iron infusion during a challenging pregnancy and after reading the potential side effects on the patient leaflet I really didn’t want one, so asked if I could try and increase my levels.

I went home and used spatone 3 x a day in beetroot/orange juice for 10 days. The doctor said ‘it won’t work’. He was very surprised at my levels when I returned. I avoided the infusion. I swear by the stuff. I didn’t get a dodgy tummy either.

Has she been checked for coeliac disease OP?

https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/your-gluten-free-hub/home-of-gluten-free-recipes/healthy-eating/iron/

My teens take Spatone. Their blood hasn't been tested but a significant proportion of teenage girls have low iron and it seems to help with their energy levels (certainly has helped me when I have had v low iron post giving birth) and will not harm.