May have accidentally taken 100mg of iron bisglycinate instead of 50mg

[CreatingHavoc]

My iron tablets are 50mg iron bisglycinate from vega vitamins. I wasn't thinking straight this morning and am worried I may have accidentally taken 2. Would 100mg be a problem or not? My understanding is iron bisglycinate is absorbed better so I'm not sure what the max dose is. Internet isn't being particularly helpful. My stomach is dodgy and I feel a bit sick.

Call 111

How are you feeling now OP?

Ferrous bisglycinate has around twice the bioavailability of ferrous sulphate & ferrous fumerate. The normal doses for those are 200-600mg/day & 210-420mg/day; so the equivalent dose would be 100-300/105-210mg ferrous bisglycinate. They did a study on treating anaemia in pregnant women a couple of years ago where the dose of ferrous bisglycinate given was 120mg.

It’s the elemental iron level that is dangerous & that’s what’s lower in ferrous bisglycinate - which also contributes to it being more palatable & not causing the same sort of GI issues as FS & FF.

Would it be worth investing in a pill organiser? That way you can keep on top of/track of things & won’t have this worry again.

Hope you’re feeling ok now 💐

@RosaMayBillinghurst thank you, that's much more information than the out of hours nurse gave me yesterday. She just googled it, saw the max dose was 120mg and sent me on my way! This is really reassuring. I have health anxiety so explanations really help me. I have also just ordered a pill organiser, I don't even take that many, it's just the iron looks really similar to my probiotic and I think I got confused. My stomach is a still a bit iffy but not as bad as yesterday. One of the reasons I take iron bisglycinate is because it doesn't give me bad side effects like the prescription stuff. My iron is slightly more stable than it used to be (31 at last test) so I don't take it daily any more. I might just get a lower dose tablet to maintain things rather than 50mg. Thanks again for your reply.

Im meant to take 100mg of iron a day and I have the solgar 20mg tabs which I should take 5 of, but its such a lot in one go, I would be really interested to know about your supplements? I could just take 2 50mg by the sounds of it

@soupfiend do you have the solgar iron bisglycinate? It depends on which type of iron you've been told to take 100mg of. But I buy Vega Vitamins Iron Bisglycinate at 50mg. You can get them on the bodykind website I think.

@CreatingHavoc
I’m glad you’re feeling better & that my explanation helped: I have autism & “need answers that make sense” - so I try to provide them. Having 2 pills that look alike is a good reason to use a pill organiser: go through & fill with one, then the next, then the next - means you’ll never find yourself standing there with a red pill in your hand beside 2 bottles full of red pills unsure which one it came from & which you still need! (Or whatever…) If you can maintain your iron levels on a lower dose that sounds eminently sensible really 😊

Im going to look up the vega vitamins this would be much more convenient for me

I havent been told what sort of iron, just that I need 100mg per day, I take the gentle iron from Solgar because I was taking a different one and it caused a lot of constipation.

I thought of this thread today because because I found myself this morning not knowing if I took my blood pressure medication or not, I therefore didnt take the tablet because I thought I would end up taking two.

I cant bear the thought of a pill box, my OH has them and they clutter up the bathroom and I wouldnt be able to carry them round with me all day anyway as I have to take tablets at particular times during the day. I tend to use a small locknlock pot and just throw them all together, they all look different thankfully

@soupfiend

Were you prescribed iron at any point? Or did they just say to take the 100mg/day? As per my earlier post, ferrous bisglycinate has twice the bioavailability of other forms of oral iron, so 50mg would almost certainly be the appropriate dose if you’re in the UK as ferrous sulphate & fumerate are what’s used here really. You can always double-check with your consultant/dietitian/GP though.

As for the pill organiser, would one that splits down into the separate days of the week instead of being one big box suit you?

Most of my tablets are put into dossette boxes for me by my community pharmacy - helpfully they’re perforated so I can tear pods off/out to take just what I need with me; then I have a pillbox so I can have a couple of doses of Creon with me; & in the wee bag where I’ve a couple of migraine injections (plus alcohol swabs & plasters); steroid cream; eyedrops; my radar key & pain patches plus iv3000 to cover them; I have blister packs of breakthrough painkillers; TXA; & my antiemetic. The last is really in case of emergency hospital admission, it’s an unusual one & supply delay is common, so having 2 doses in my bag & rotating them every time the hospital sends me another 3 month supply is safest.

My EpiPens are in their own wee pouch; my nebules & a blister pack of prednisolone are in with my nebuliser; & then I’ve a bag of portacath supplies with the right size needles, the right dressings, wee iodine wipes & pure alcohol ones plus silver patches to use instead of biopatches, appeel, gauze, mepitac tape (mercifully that’s prescribed for me!) & of course scissors… My dosette “pods” & Creon pillbox usually go in the migraine etc bag rather than floating free, although sometimes when I’m in a rush I sling them into the tiny pocket at the top of my rucksack where my keys & freedom pass go… 😶

But back to pill organisers: how about one for 3 times a day, or for 4, or this one for 4 times is set up as a stack to save space, this 4 times daily one has an octagonal prism for each day rather than a cuboid of some description, this one includes a space for PRN medication…? There are lots of design options that wouldn’t mean bathroom!clutter &/or you lugging around a whole week’s worth of medication with you. Speaking of which, your OH really shouldn’t keep their medication in your bathroom - it will be getting damp & will probably be getting too warm as well, both things which may stop it working properly 🥺

Yes those are the sorts my OH has unfortunately mine woujldnt fit in there, I have a mixture of prescribed medication and supplements that are mandatory for me following WLS (including that iron). Some of the supplements are big chew type things so they dont fit in normal boxes.
I have a small square locknlock box and I just refill it every day.