The taste of iron

I have decided independently to supplement iron in addition to the usual regiment encouraged by TWH and I'm going to use the Proferrin Iron - but are the pills swallow enough to swallow post-op or do i need to crush them to get them down?

Also, do they taste nasty crushed up? 

Should i do a chewable iron for immediately post-op and then switch to the Proferrin?

Help a quickly approaching surgery girl out!

 Can I ask why you are doing this?  I have to take loads of iron, but that is because the nut said to, otherwise I would not be taking the stuff.  I am on liquid, plus 2 pills a day that are prescribed that I take with vit c.  The liquid tastes disgusting.  Take care!

The best-practise guidelines by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery state that women of child-bearing age need an additional 18-27mg of iron above and beyond what is in a multivitamin in order to prevent anemia. TWH has been experiencing a majority of their women of child-bearing age being diagnosed with anemia within the first 3-12 months post-op. For some reason they have not started suggesting that all women start on iron immediately post-op and I can't fathom why. It's just crazy that they are waiting until people have a deficiency. Supplementing immediately and preventing anemia is the most prudent thing to do health-wise. Anemia is fairly easy to prevent but very hard to treat as a RNY post-op.

In addition to what Trish has stated above- I have also chosen a multi-vitamin that does not have Iron in it....because most Multi's have calcium which inhibits the absorption of the iron to begin with.

Yeah, it really bothers me that most pharmacy multi-vits just toss in both calcium and iron, it's really misleading. All it takes is 40mg of calcium to start impairing the iron absorption from a multi-vit and virtually all non-bariatric multivits I've looked ay have more than this!

At my one month blood test the clinic called and said that my iron and Vit D were low. I started with the Proferrin (2 pills per day, not to be taken with calcium), and they are large so I cut them in half with my pill cutter. I haven't had any problems with them cut in half. It is not hard on your stomach and it is my understanding that the other types are hard and may cause constipatation.

Hopefully my 3 month bloodwork is better. I had to increase my vit D by an extra 3000 IU per day which is easy as I just use the drops.

But I don't think you need to start taking extra now unless the clinic tells you to. Check with them if you are unsure.

Good luck,  

The Ontario clinics are going against the ASMBS best practise supplementation guidelines by not recommending iron supplementation (18-27mg a day above what is in a multi-vitamin) for all women of child-bearing age immediately after surgery. For a woman of child-bearing age it is the only prudent thing to do otherwise the odds are 60-80% that you will end up anemic. This is why getting your information by exclusively listening to your centre is not always a good way to approach this process.

I wonder why you are writing that Ontario clinics are not recommending iron supplementation 18-27mg a day above what is in the multivitamin.  In Ottawa, we are to take two multivitamins per day each with a minimum of 18 mg of iron.

Judy

Yes, this is exactly what I said, you must have misunderstood. The Ontario clinics are recommending only two multivits a day with iron. The ASMBS guidelines recommend two multivits per day with iron PLUS an additional 18-27mg of elemental iron on its own. Sorry if this somehow wasn't clear.

Just an FYI - Proferrin can be taken with anything, even calcium.  It is not affected by food, liquid or other supplements.