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............. but then I've just had a glass of red wine (ok ... it's been a tough day) ...... so no point taking the iron pill now or doing the BP measurement.

Wel I don't know but I'm GUESSING that I'm feeling like a space cadet with a heart problem because..... my pressure is lowering SUPER FAST.

OK maybe I'm dense but why can't you take the iron if you had wine????

It's made from grapes (sorry I know that's obvious!) but grape juice, wine, tea, coffee, milk all interfere with iron absorption.

Can't remember the numbers now (I did a thread on 'enemies of iron absorption' ages ago) but if you take your supplement/eat iron rich foods with or within two hours or so of these 'enemies' you reduce your uptake of the iron to a negligible level.

I remember someone added a post at the time which mentioned that anaemia can be caused by excess coffee consumption alone .... which is why I've cut right back .... but can't give it up completely because I LOVE COFFEE.

I took Ferrous Sulfate tabs for 9 mo's at 325mg three times daily--and my Storage FE only went up to 47

I should mention that I also used vitamin C ( 1k) and L-Lysine(500mg) each time that I took the iron

Internist sent me to a Hemotologist---who looked a bit further and found out that my hemocrit as low 12.7---normal is above 14

So the insurance company paid for IV FE--not fun, I was really surprised, even when pre-medicated with Sol-Medrol, Benadryl, and Demoral, how painful my spine was for a few days afterwards--it took Darvacet just to handle the bone pain......and I really wasn't all that depleted--and I have a pretty high pain tolerance

But they are in-introducing 1K of FE back into storage in the Bone Marrow---so it is what it is, as they say

But after the initial two days of misery---I had more energy

Next day I found out why this might have happened--as my FE levels were so high in the past they thought that I might have had Hemochromotosis--so what caused the sudden drop?

Hashimoto's thyroiditis-----My Endo did everything under the sun to try to figure this out--- no antibodies ever showed up on me via bloodwork

It took a TRH challenge, and a Iodine Uptake Scan ( and an Endo who only deals with Thyroid disease here in Houston, Dr. Arem--he wrote the book "The Thyroid Solution")

I gotta tell you--my TSH, Total and Free T-3 and T-4 were all at near perfect levels........I went a bit "hyper" this summer, and they lowered my dosage---which was a bad thing in retrospect---since Armour is also used to control Hashi's............Endo took me off of everything for a while--thinking it was actually my Pituitary Gland causing the problems...it was a bad choice--but he thought I was what is called "Euthyroid Sick Syndrome" ( thyroid problems caused by something else)

Untreated Hashi's can deplete iron--Yep, Hemo is happy with that explaination, and I will get another IV FE in June if levels don't stay where they should.........

I just thought I'd share that with you---stay on this low Fe issue,it's not always as cut and dry as it sounds

hey girls,
I just got my blood test results back,guess what my ferritin has gone down to only 22.I dont understand the fist time I checked my ferritin in last May ,it was 32 without any iron pills.I took slow-fe for 2 months and continued with supplemental iron for anoth 2 months,
then it went up to only 48.now its down to 22.I've done my best avoiding coffee,tea...whatever you can imagin even taking black strap.
can it be my thyroid?I got the results and my TSH is at 2.9
T4 and T3 are on the low side only 1.5 point higher than minimum range.
I know that if I go to my doc,he would say everything is normal.since the range for TSH is 0.34 to 6.

Ww i never knew I wasn't supposed to take iron rich food with my pills... isn't that kind of weird that taking iron with iron makes it not work

MAN... I eat a spinach salad(iron with mine every morning)... maybe that is why my number are rising so slow

OH WELL... i am NOT going to chnage my eating habits. i eat bad ... always eat bad... and will continue to eat bad probably until it kills me . I guess i will just have to keep chugging along at the snails pace with my iron.

I use FERROUS SULFATE... i wonder if WHICH KIND you take makes any diference with absorbtion?

Of course I'm assuming they are absorbing prett quick because i can always feel them making me wacky within like 5-10 minutes

I'm back on iron pills again,'DBORG is right,I checked my test results and my HCT is 35 (nomal range is 36-46)
I was first on slow-fe it raised my iron levels abit but I wasn't feeling well on it.
I tried FEFOL +folic acid,didnt do nothing.
I just bought a new pack,its FERRO SANOL DUODENAL(100MG)almost twice stronger than slow-fe.

Doctor has prescribed me ferrous fumerate as I wasn't making any progress with ferrous gluconate and ferrous sulphate .... must look up the differences. Anyway seems to be going ok, have felt a bit bloated (almost like I need to burp/belch) and have swung from one extreme to the other with other digestive issues all week but I guess it needs a while to settle down.

Julielou
I've been on ferrous fumerate for six months, 1 tab x 2 a day - raised my levels from barely 10 to 47.
4 of those 6 months I was only taking 1 tablet a day, but also using spatone.
Still taking one a day, sometimes two, along with the spatone & l-lysine.
Hang on in there.