AIBU - aversion to iron tablets

[oddlycurious]

GP has said I need to be taking the ones prescribed that are 210mg twice a day.

In my 30s and been anaemic all my life, post partum, my iron started getting really low around a year and a half ago.

But the thought of the tablets just make me sick, I try so hard to take them but taking them out the packet make me gag. Used to take the coated ones and actually be sick after them but now its the noncoated tablets and I feel the same.

Diet is good, not a lot of red meat but lots of veg and fruit and chicken. I feel fine generally but know my low iron is affecting my body in other ways.

Any advice please?? The ones available on the market that are easier to take are only around 20MG. I need a much higher dosage.

Also, don't tell me to suck it up. Nothing nice to say then don't say it. Thank you.

Try Floradix syrup, I can’t remember what it tastes like so it can’t have been to bad🤣. You can buy OTC

I'm on ferrous fumarate and really struggle. Don't take them with tea or they start to melt. Sometimes if I can't get them down even for 5 seconds they start to melt and make my tongue black for the whole day. I'd try yoghurt or rice pudding something a bit thicker.

Take spatone sachets - the apple ones. It’s quite nice!

I'm the same, I can't find any that don't make me feel nauseous all day.

Eating red meat twice a week though, keeps my iron levels up absolutely fine. Try that!

Could you have an iron infusion?
You need an iron supplement that will raise your iron levels. Maybe a pharmacist could give you some advice.

Well they taste a bit of blood don't they? Thre qpple juice Spatone masks the iron flavour really well but it's a much lower dose than OP needs. It's also tolerated better. Ferrous fumarate pills gave me awful diarrhea, they even made me lose weight!

Off to google the anemia cook book. Who knew there was one!

Spatone has only 5mg per sachet, not a lot of use to someone who has been prescribed 2 x 210mg a day.

You must be pretty anaemic to need that dosage? I’ve been prescribed 80mg, once a day for three months, and even that dosage is horrible to take. They do smell grim, and the physical effects are not nice.

Can you go back to the dr and ask about alternatives?

as an aside, I’m quite sure that if men regularly took iron supplements a much more palatable way of taking them would have been invented.

Taking before bed helps

Why have you been anaemic your whole life? Anaemia is a symptom not a disease so the cause of the anaemia should be identified and treated? Why are you anaemic? If this is from blood loss post partum then an iron infusion may be the solution. Good luck.

DONT crush the tablets up as pp said. There's plenty of liquid iron supps out there. Just hold your nose and take the spoonful down as fast as you can!
Also don't take them on an empty stomach or they will make you sick. Have them with something containing vitamin C to increase absorption. Don't have tea or coffee either side of taking them as both block caffeine absorption. Try and increase vegetable intake. I'm a vegan and my iron levels have been decent through 2 pregnancies so you don't have to eat red meat if you don't want to.

There are liquid iron supplements, would you be able to try one of those instead?

I believe that you can get liquid iron but also iron injections (not sure what there called) My mother had them but didn't find them pleasant.
Check with your surgery, why struggle if you don't have to.

I've just taken my iron tablet. 🤢 they are awful. Just the smell...

I've had to reduce mine to every other day otherwise the constipation is unmanageable.

Needs must but you have my sympathy!

Some people do just have anaemia with no cause. My whole family do. I don’t even have periods (been on mini pill for years and years) and still anaemic. My Mum, Gran and dd have it. We are all on iron tablets permanently, life long. 210mg ferrous fumerate daily. We’ve all had lots of tests. I do have Addisons and lupus but this isn’t causing the anaemia. They think it’s just a weird genetic thing perhaps. When I was pregnant with both my children I had to have daily iron injections!

Anyway - what I was going to say was if you’re been prescribed iron tablets please do not take something like Spatone instead! The levels are not comparable and no where near the same amount of iron as ferrous fumerate or sulphate! They’re for people with mild iron deficiency. If you don’t take the prescribed iron tablets you can cause yourself serious long term issues. Really annoys me when people recommend things like spatone to those with diagnosed anaemia!

I’ve had these - they were called Jectofen. But that was 20 years ago so may be called something else now. Generally they don’t like to give you these now - they’re actually really painful and cause a lot of bruising.

I was anaemic pretty much from starting my periods until my late 20s. Gynae investigations for heavy periods The 300mg a day I was prescribed did nothing besides give me constipation.

Diagnosed as coeliac at 28, stopped eating gluten, I've never been anaemic again.

No advice but I find this thread so interesting. I take ferrous sulphate and they are tasteless and odourless to me.

I hope you find a solution OP.

I take Ferrograd for low ferritin levels. They are prescription dose.
Taking them in the morning made me retch but now I take after dinner at night along with a high dose vitamin C tablet and a probiotic and that's actually been completely fine.

My DH has capsules.

I fine ferrous sulphate completely tasteless, so it’s fine for me. I take 2x 200mg.

Like PPs have said, an iron infusion was a game changer for me. I hadn’t realised how bad I felt until I was topped up, so now the iron I take is just to maintain levels. Deff ask about it if you haven’t already.

I couldn't tolerate iron tablets when pregnant. Someone recommended Sytron liquid which was fine. It looks and tastes a bit like cough mixture.

How about the Better You spray?

Spatone doesn't keep my iron levels up at a decent rate at all, unfortunately.

The prescribed amount is very high, so I think you should request an iron infusion, to get your levels up, then you shouldn't need to take such a high amount to maintain.

These tablets are 50mg (a higher dose than the usual 20mg) but you'd still need to take several per day: https://www.gandgvitamins.com/iron-50mg.html

As for mixing them with other liquids, as pp said, some are not suitable, as they will block iron absorption (like caffeine). Other food that blocks it are all dairy-based foods/drinks. It is better to leave at least an hour between the tablets and those foods/drinks.
Otherwise you'll take them but the iron won't be absorbed properly.
Usually the manufacturer will add this on an instruction leaflet with the product or on their website.

Syrups or drops often have a lot of artificial flavour or scent added to mask the iron smell. The combination of both is not very nice; it might be better to find another kind of tablet.

Ask for Ferric Maltol, they don't smell and are much gentler on the stomach, they have a higher absorbency too. They are capsules.