Low Iron & Surgery in 15 days. Suggestions?

I'm having a lower body lift and breast lift on October 28th.  Right now, my iron levels are as below:

IRON PROFILE
IRON                                        * 59           [60-180]           UG/DL
IRON BINDING                      * 491         [200-400]         ug/dl
PERCENT SATURATION    *  12.0       [14-55]               %
FERRITIN,SERUM                49              [20-300]           NG/ML
PTH INTACT                           44.1          [15.0-65.0]        pg/mL

My surgeon said I should be okay as long as I double/triple up on my iron starting now.  I'm currently taking 2 of the Cypress Iron brand (Polysaccharide-150mg Elemental) from Vitalady.com in the morning. Any suggestions?

hey!  i'm 5 weeks post tummy tuck and i was told to double up on my iron (bariatric advantage) the week before my surgery and i did great!  my iron levels have been low for several years....i used to give blood at every opportunity....one day they said my hemoglobin was too low to give!  i went to my dr and had lots of blood tests (i had hysterectomy many years earlier so it wasn't because of my period) and was finally told that i have enough for me but not enough that i can share!  so.......i wasn't surprised when the surgeon's office called about my iron!  i just doubled up on the iron and things went fine!

another thing....my surgeon also had me to start taking 1000 mg of vitamin C daily for the month before my surgery....apparently vitamin C helps your body to heal!  never knew that!

hope this helps!  warm wishes for your upcoming surgery!  i'm so happy with my results and i'm sure you will be as well!!

jenni

I would add some tender Iron from vitalady to that, maybe takie it in the evening away from everything else.  But always take your iron with vitamin C and a copper pill.  No other vits around it or eggs or dairy

How is your hematocrit and hemoglobin?

Hematocrit is at 37.6 and hemoglobin at 11.9.

You are on the low end and the real question is how do these labs comapre to ones done previously. Are you on the way up, steady, or dropping ?

How long have you been on supplements ? You may correct soon if you have started recently, whereas if you have been on the religiously you may need another form of iron.

Some surgeons prefer a bit more iron reserves (ferritin) if you are contemplating a big surgery like TT or LBL but that's an individualized decison only your doc can make.

I have very low iron too but it has taken me months to increase my ferritin levels. I take 240 mg Iron per day in 2 separate doses with vitamin C- no coffee, caffeine, tannins, calcium, fiber etc.
But my ferritin was at a 4.1...now its at 11. I hoping in the next few more months I'll be the 20 range..

Michelle

That's the usual pattern...takes a while...often many weeks... but it can be done !

I was supposed to have my upper body BL/BA done on this past Wednesday but my blood work showed I was very low iron.  I have had 5 iron infusions now and in 10 days they will take my blood again to see if we can proceed with surgery.    My iron was 11 where the standard range was 35-155.  My hematocrit was 26.3 and my hemoglobin was 7.9.

I am now scheduled for Nov 2nd.  Had my last infusion so now I am planning on getting some good iron pills this weekend and taking that along with eating lots of red meat and shrimp.

oh my percent saturation was a 3 so looks like you are in a much better position than me.