Anemia does anyone take liquid iron instead of ferrous fume rate?

[addictedtolatte]

Been diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia again. My bloods are at 7.5 which is quite low :-( feel exhausted all the time. Doctor has given me ferrous fumerate but it makes me nauseaus and I find it difficult to take care of my children and father whilst feeling sick.

I have just bought holland and Barrett high strength liquid iron and was thinking of changing to this. Do you think this would be enough to restore my iron other than the obvious of iron rich foods?

Thankyou

Maybe take it into a pharmacy and ask them. Or just tell your doctor its making you nauseous there are other things they can give you

I do, because I felt so awful on the prescribed tablets. I'm not convinced it's strong enough though, as I've been exhausted and unwell for rather a long time now. It did make my levels go back up into the bottom of 'normal' though, from below 8.

I can't take iron tablets (they give me terrible runs) but I have had iron infusions at the hospital. Ferritin up from 6 to 178 in 4 weeks - I felt a million dollars. Just need to insist.

Have you tried Spatone? It's iron rich water frequently taken by pregnant women with low iron. I took it with no side effects and got comments on how good my iron levels were.

Don't know what Holland and Barrett supplement is like but recently had to change ds from ferrous fumarate as his body was not absorbing it. Had to see a doctor to change to sodium feredetate which is easier to absorb. Got advised ds should drink orange juice with it to help with absorption of the iron

Took Spatone. It's fab as it doesn't make you constipated.

Took it after section when has a major bleed.

178??? Mine is 13 and I was told it was normal!

(You probably already know this but just in case!)

to boost absorption:

Eat iron rich foods with vitamin c rich food,

Avoid drinking tea with iron -rich foods.

Thanks everyone for your advice I will definitely phone doctor tomorrow and ask if there is another way of getting my iron up.

Smoggy thanks for tip on orange juice I will try that as well.

The worst thing is cutting out the coffee which you've probably guessed by my nick name am addicted to lol

My GP couldn't prescribe Spatone but was happy for me to take it instead of the awful tablets.

Ask for a prescription for sytron. Much more iron rich than anything you could buy at H&B. Only thing I could manage to take but worked well.

I take Spa Tone. I can't tolerate iron tablets either. I had iron injections 4 years ago. It leaves bad staining like bruises on your bum. It took 2 years for them to disappear. My Dr wasn't keen on me trying them again so I suggested Spatone. My levels were 11 & I will be retested in a few months time to see if the Spatone has improved my levels. I'm not sure though as your levels are so low if it would be enough to rebuild levels.
I still got an upset stomach from the injections but not as bad.

Thanks. I have got an appointment with gp on Tuesday so will discuss other options with her and hopefully she will prescribe me Sytron like twisted has suggested.

Kittykat7 yes the injections make me nauseous as we'll :-( I will try spa tone till I get doctors on Tuesday.

Just remembered that Sytron is the brand name, actual medicine is called Sodium Ferederate. Hope you get sorted on Tuesday, you'll feel so much better when your iron levels go up.

Interesting thread. GP has prescribed me iron tablets, have put off taking them for a couple of months as didn't want the constipation side effect!! He prescribed me laxatives aswell!!! Have been feeling nauseous but didn't put it down to the tablets!! Will suggest to GP what TwistedThinking suggested!

Have you tried ferrous gluconate? I couldn't get on with any of the others but can tolerate that one.

Spatone on subscribe and save with Amazon here (although check out prices on mysupermarket.co.UK first). The plain one in a glass of orange juice is very easy. Not sure how quick iron levels pick up this way - I assume injections are a faster route ?

Sorry to hijack, but as you all seem to know so much about iron, can I ask what you would take that you can get without a prescription to up iron levels? Just finished three months on iron tablets but can't get a drs appointment to get more. I've bought multivitamins with iron. Could I take something else alongside? Is spatone the strongest non-prescription thing.

I feel loads better than I did before.

reynolds you can get Ferrous Sulphate over the counter which is much stronger than Spatone (which is fine for a bit of a lift but you need something more quickly effective if you're anaemic).

I really like floridix liquid. Tastes like it is doing you good!

I was given iron tablets for anaemia and got the perscription changed to to Sytron (sodium ferederate) because the tables totally bunged me up and made my IBS worse.

The Sytron has been fine and tastes reasonably ok. It also did shift from iron levels from 8.1 to 10.3 in 2 months.

Go back to your GP and ask for something different. Tablets are the first call but if they're not working then there are other options on perscription.