Iron tabs = Mega constipation (TMI warning!!!)

[Claire2009]

It is evil, pure evil, I've not taken any iron tabs since Thurs because it's hurt that much, it's like sh*tting concrete

I'm eating tons of fruit/veg/orange juice, I don't like prune juice so won't drink that.

But HELP please, what can I do? I need the iron but I also need to not be in pain!

take lacutlose to help sort out the current issue (softens stools)

Go to holland & barretts and get some floradix liquid iron, acts more quickly and doesn't bung you up. Has all the stuff in it to help your body absorb it more quickly too.

I second the lactulose, it softens the poo whereas fruit/prunes etc will just create soft poo behind the hard poo and eventually push it out, but with pain etc. Lactulose is great stuff.

Lactulose never seemed to do much for me but take it anyway as it won't harm. Floradix (you can get it in tablet form too) is great because it doesn't bung you up, although I am not sure it is a very high dose of iron. Spatone is fine too. It depends how much iron you need to take.

My GP said Floradix and Spatone don't have enough iron but I had the same horrible constipation on iron tabs and the lactulose didn't work so I thought taking floradix was better than nothing. I took a double dose. Do you have bad symptoms from being iron deficient? I was just tired and the doc said the reason was the baby was having all my iron.

Thanks, I'll get some lactulose, anything is worth a try to stop the pain!

I've been taking Ferrous Sulphate 200mg 3 times a day for anaemia & low iron levels.

Hair falls out, very heavy periods, tired 24/7.

Floradix is far more affective than the ferrous sulphate because it has the vitamins in it to help your body absorb the iron. I could tell it was working within 48 hours! Do you take your iron tablets with orange juice or similar, and not have caffeine as that inhibits absorbing it.

I don't drink any caffeine, drink diluted juice/oj/aj.

soft prunes [ the best], chickpeas, apples,cabbage, make a bean chilli, lentil dahl. Take the iron with orange juice and drink loads of water to flush it all through.
Found the above better than laxatives

floradix & spatone are excellent & didn't bung me up.

Eat jacket potatoes & beans, drink water at least every hour. Brocolli & carrots, kiwi fruit/pineapple & apples.

Sugar free polos or sugar free boiled sweets get things moving very quickly for me, within a couple of hours. They kick start things then I follow up with the more healthy recommendations that have been mentioned here.

I feel your pain, was on the same tabs after my cesarean where I lost quite a bit of blood. I find dried apricots are like a natural laxative for me (learned this one the hard way!)

go and get unsulphered apricots - they taste divine and work far better than prunes

Crazy jacks do unsulphered - they are the dark brown dryed apricots not bright orange ones that have been injected with sulpher to make them orange.

Try making a compote out of them if you want something sweet and toffee like - 1Lb of unsulphered apricots to 1 liter of water and simmer gently and serve with a bannana and plain yogurt.

I took spatone after major blood loss during birth and my iron levels went up v v fast

Midwife said it's very absorbable by the body

no constipation at all, but had had it very badly with regular iron tablets in the past