diarrhea when taking sodium feredetate (iron)

[Summerdays2014]

Hi,

My 2 year old is on iron medicine as he is anemic. He’s been on it for just over a week now 3 times a day. Since yesterday morning he has had terrible diarrhea. 5 runny poos yesterday morning then it stopped until night when he was up every 2 hours and was also vomiting. Carried on until 9am this morning then stopped again. Now he’s has another 2 bouts in the last hour. Is it normal for if to cause so much? He was also on antibiotics last week (started at the same time as the iron). If this is a side effect what can I do? Obviously he can’t go into nursery like this, but he has to been on the medicine for weeks.... will the diarrhoea stop? Why has it taken over a week to start effecting him? I’ll contact the doctors tomorrow, he’s drinking and eating and seems quite happy during the day - just a bit tired. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

*be on the medicine, not been.

With the vomiting & time of year, I'd assume he's got a bug, so hopefully should pass quickly, and isn't related to the iron. Maybe try some probiotics to help his gut after the antibiotics too.

Thanks minimonkeysmum. I hope it’s just a bug - it’s just that the side effects of the medicine are listed as diarrhea and vomiting so I just assumed it was the medicine. I’ll have a look for some probiotics- didn’t know children could have them!

I think vomiting is an unusual side effect (nausea more common), so fingers crossed it's just a bug! There are special kids probiotics, always worth thinking about after antibiotics!

It's much more common for it to cause constipation! Have to wonder if the antibiotics are implicated...

Typically iron has the opposite effect - clogging up. Sounds like this is an inconveniently timed bug, but obviously if he doesn’t recover after 24-48 hours or if he seems to be getting badly dehydrated, give the GP a call! Poor little guy...

Hi, pharmacist here. How long has he got left on the antibiotics? That's more likely to be causing the symptoms you're describing. Speak to your GP in the morning and maybe get them to switch to a different one?

Thanks everyone.

Just had another bout. He finished the antibiotics on Thursday then the diarrhea started on Saturday morning. He was in hospital with pneumonia which is what the antibiotics were for but has been out a week now. I feel so sorry for him- he was just getting back to normal after being unwell for 5 weeks (it took 3 doctor, 1 walk in and 2 trips to A&E before he finally got diagnosed and then admitted to hospital) and then he gets diarrhea on top of everything.

Had another terrible night with him going to the toilet every 2 hours or so. Just looked at the side effects again

“When your child first starts having Sytron® they may have stomach pain, feel sick or be sick (vomit) or they may get diarrhoea, wind (flatulence) or constipation (difficulty doing a poo).

Oh dear. Poor little guy. Have you stopped the iron liquid now?

Spoke to the doctor this morning who suggested stopping the iron for 3 days. Then reintroducing 1 dose a day. Also said it could just be a bug. Will have to wait and see I guess.