Yikes... How common is it to need an iron infusion?

I did a search for "iron infusion" and read a bunch of links about folks with RNY who had to start having iron infusions at approx 4 years post op. This scares the crap out of me!!!
Are people being lax on their vitamins? How common is it to need iron infusions several years out from surgery?
Thanks! - Nikki

I have had them, but I have always been borderline iron deficient.  I had one about six years ago and one about six months ago.  I just figured in the same year I had  the surgery and met all of my deductibles and out of pocket max I would go ahead and get one to get ahead of the game.  Now, that I know I am fine with the numbers I can stay on top of it with the daily pills. 

A lot of women have iron deficiency and anemia because of their menstrual losses each month also.  So, if your periods are really bad, and you are not absorbing iron, even with the daily pills it still may not be enough to keep your numbers up.

There are many reasons why one may need an iron infusion. 

What exactly is a iron infusion and what do they do? and how long does it take?

It depends on the type of iron they give you and the dose.  There is iron dextran, InFeD, Ferrlecit, the ones that I know.  Some require all day, one time, some require multiple visits.   You go to the hematologist's office and they give it to you IV.

In my situation six months ago I received 1 gram of Ferrlecit.  I went 3 days per week for 8 visits, each visit was about an 2 hours total in and out but about 1 hour to drip the medicine in. 

You do this when the pills won't absorb and - to me - the shots just hurt too bad and with the shots if they do it wrong, because iron is brown, it can stain your skin.  There is a special way to giving iron shots.

I had one in March.  I sat over 7 hours with an IV in my arm.  I did get to catch up with a few movies I'd been wanting to see since the clinic had portable DVD players.

It's common.

RNY triggers anemia.  Sometimes oral prep iron does not help.

I have no wisdom...just wanted to hijack and say your name freaked me out because I too am a Nikki M.

Hi!

Guilty here!  At 3 years post op, my ferritin had dropped to 4.  Normal for women is 15-200.  I tried getting my iron levels up on my own.  I was taking 6x the normal dose of iron and my levels continued to drop.  The only thing the iron did was made me constipated.  I had an iron infusion in March.  I just had tests and I'm already back down to a 16.  I see the doctor again in a few weeks.  It looks like I'm going to need an infusion every 4-6 months.  I just can't absorb iron like I should.