I’ve recently been diagnosed with anemia and prescribed iron pills (Hemocyte Plus, specifically.) I was warned to take them with food or they’d upset my stomach, so I do take them with food, but they still make me miserable.
Unfortunately, they also work for all the symptoms I went into the doctor’s for in the first place.
So before I call her and ask about alternative medications, I was wondering if anybody had any simpler, easier fix - are there certain foods that work better, is there something I can take for nausea and upset stomach that won’t interfere with the iron pills, anything like that. Suggestions?
Are these the sort of pills you break into halves or even quarters? If so, perhaps you can take a smaller dose more often. For example if you have to take one pill a day, try taking a half a pill twice a day. You’ll still get the same daily dose, but spread out so your stomach doesn’t get cross about it.
Hemocyte Plus is a LOT of iron - 324mg Ferrous Fumarate. By contrast, the amount of iron in Twin Labs Iron Caps is 18mg Ferrous Fumarate - 100% of the US RDA for iron. You’re currently taking 18x the RDA for iron. I realise you’re under a doctor’s supervision, but it is possible that you’re simply getting too much iron for your body to assimilate.
Nausea, stomach pains, and vomiting are symptoms of iron poisoning; you may be experiencing a low-grade effect of too much iron. I’d suggest you contact your doctor and discuss your symptoms with her, and possibly ask for a lower dose of iron & see how you do with it. Any time you have adverse affects from prescribed medications or vitamins, you need to talk to your doctor about it, even if it seems like it’s “nothing.”
FWIW, I was diagnosed with serious anemia last year and have been doing just fine with the RDA of 18mg per day (YMMV, of course).
A quick correction - somehow the fact you’re taking two pills per day just sunk in. That means you’d be taking 648mg of Ferrous Fumarate (iron) - 36x the US RDA (not 18x as in my original post). Sorry about that.
Iron pills tend to make my wife nauseous. She switched to a liquid iron supplement (Floradix brand I believe) and it helped immeasurably. You should check with your doctor/health practitioner to make sure everything is ok though.
When I was anemic, my doctor put me on the 2 pills a day, which made me nauseous. When I called him about it, he switched me to 1 pill a day, taken at bedtime with milk. That way the nausea came while I was asleep. He also put me on the Geritol liquid to help “build me up”. It has Iron and B vitamins. It tastes nasty, but didn’t make me as nauseous. Just a thought…
Yeah, I have to take 3 pills a day, 325 mg. of ferrous sulfate. I was miserable for a while, and I was hesitant to take that much, but when I skipped a pill a day, my tests still came back too low.
When I took them on an empty stomach was the worst. My doc told me to take them with meals to help ease the symptoms. That was OK, but I find that it works best when I take them in the middle of the meal. So I eat half, take a pill, then finish eating. Now I don’t have any problem at all as long as I keep my fiber intake up. (I just found All Bran - Extra Fiber cereal. Low in carbs, high in fiber. Just the thing for a diabetic anemic like me.)
I was told to take the “Slow FE”. Regular iron pills were making me nauseous as well, but the “Slow FE” seemed to do the trick. As far as foods, try eating those high in Vitamin C along with your pills, it’s helps your body absorb the iron.
I juzt realized the date of these posts! I came to it through a Google search but if anyone else sees this maybe they can help me. My Dr. said my iron levels came back extremely low and put me on Ferrous Fumarate 100 mg three times a day. The pharmacist said to take it on an empty stomach as the iron would not absorb if you have food or even milk/juice. I started taking them yesterday and by this morning they are making me vomit! Not even just nauseau… I could NOT hold anything in. I hate throwing up! So now I am not sure what to do? If I take it with food then my iron levels won’t go up and if I take it on empty stomach makes me sick. I think 900 mg/day is quite a bit though?
Thanks for any help!
The last time I had a particularly exhausting bout of anemia, I suffered through the pills for a while, taking just plain Feosol until my first retest. I also tried changing birth control to seasonique for fewer periods, but that didn’t really work for me, so I gave up on it.
After that, I decided to fix my shit through diet and I haven’t had trouble since. I have either frosted shredded wheat (I hate total and it’s one of the few that has 100% of your RDA of iron per serving) or Cream of Wheat for breakfast every freaking morning, without fail, I keep dried apricots on hand as snacks, and I make sure I get red meat at least once or twice a week.
I haven’t tested low at a physical in a couple of years, and I haven’t had any of the crushing fatigue I get when I’m anemic, either.
You know, I just kind of quit taking those damned things. I should probably be on something, though. I do usually test barely high enough to give blood.
i developed anemia after giving too much blood over too short a period of time. my hematologist suggested five weeks of transfusions, once a week. i responded so well to it he cut it to four weeks and i was back to normal.
ymmv, depending on the type of anemia, but i’d check with your doctor about them.
I think 900 mg/day is quite a bit though? 