Vitamin schedule - new additions, need help

So, I went to my PCP b/c I'm having a lot of fatigue, breathlessness, difficult time concentrating (more than usual, I have ADD) and increased anxiety/insomnia.  She changed some of my medicines to help me sleep, and also did a blood test to check TSH and hematocrit, etc.  Turns out that I'm more anemic now than I was 2 months ago.  

Instead of taking 325mg iron once a day w/OJ, I now have to take it three times a day.  How do I schedule this!?  My vitamin purposely has no iron, so that I can take it at the same time as I take the calcium.  I don't know how I'm going to do this.  

 Don't take iron with calcium. They compete for absorbsion, and calcium will usually win out. I'd take the iron during your times in between food since you're taking it with OJ. I'd also check in with the surgeon--they may recommend a different iron supplement. 

**I've been anemic for a long time, so I can speak from experience. Good luck! 

"First, it sounds like you're taking ferrous sulfate, which is not absorbed very well, and which is likely to make you really constipated.  I would switch to carbonyl.  325 mg ferrous sulfate is only 65 mg elemental iron - the rest is iron salts, which is what stops you up.  So you could take about 200 mg carbonyl iron instead of the three 325 mg ferrous sulfate, absorb it better, and be able to poop.

You could also take it all at the same time - no need to spread it out unless you want to.

Take your iron, whatever kind it is, with vitamin C to increase absorption.  But you're not getting enough C in the OJ unless you're drinking a LOT of OJ, which would give you too much sugar and too many calories.  Just take vitamin C instead.  200 mg C for every 30 mg iron.

Thank you very much, Kelly!!!

I just got off the phone with the pharmacist, and she said that there's 45mg of elemental iron per tablet of carbonyl iron, but that it does, in fact, have better availability and therefore would be absorbed better.  I will take the ferrous sulfate just for the weekend and call my doctor on monday for a recommendation/change of Rx on how much carbonyl iron I should take.

She also noticed I'm taking Prilosec and that it could interfere with iron absorbtion.  I didn't know that! I wonder if it would be safe to discontinue the Prilosec for a week or so until I can bring my levels up and then go back on it.