Gross disgusting question (you have been warned.. its about vomit)

I have been taking more iron. A forum member in the Canadian area suggested I open my Feramax pills and dissolve the contents in tea or something warm. So I have been doing that.

I don't know if yesterday my stomach had had enough with all the iron. But for the first time I had to go throw up whilst at work. (sigh..ew) It wasn't like anything was stuck. I had eaten a small amount of food to make the iron tea easier on my stomach. However all I threw up was dark fluid. It tasted like how I imagine horrible cleaning chemicals would taste. Worst throw up session EVER!! The taste stayed in my mouth for hours. After throwing up my stomach immediately felt better.

Was this just the iron? It doesn't taste that way going down. I can't even really taste the iron in the tea.

For more information I haven't thrown up much since surgery (and like never before) I have thrown up twice before when things got 'stuck'. Whilst gross it wasn't disgusting like this. The stuck food just tasted like food coming back up. Never had the dreaded foamies...

I do go to my centre in a week so I will ask the nurse practitioner when I see her. But in the meantime anything like this happen to anyone else? When you throw up is it horrible tasting (I figure it should be low acid) ?

Absolutely do NOT take iron with tea. It blocks absorption of about 80 percent of the iron.

Coffee, soy, calcium, and a whole host of other things block iron absorption. Don't take iron within two hours of any of those things.

DO take iron with Vitamin C. You want 200 mg of Vitamin C with every 30 mg of elemental iron.

If the ferramax is causing issues, try another type. Heme iron and carbonyl iron are most gentle on the stomach. Stay away from anything that starts with ferrous -- . It will cause stomach upset and constipation.

Good to know. I usually take it with vit C, but didn't know that tea was bad. Back to the drawing board. I would like to keep trying a bit with this as it was a pricey bottle of iron.

Iron is notorious for causing stomach upset ant it tastes TERRIBLE coming back up.

Just an FYI, iron should never be taken with coffee or black tea. The tannins in those drinks will stop the absorption of iron. If your tea was an herbal green tea, that is fine.

It was matcha. So not sure

OMG it tasted so vile!!

I don't have to take Iron but I do have to take Potassium and man does that do a number on my stomach!

Edited for a typo.

I am 3 yrs 4 months post op. I had surgery at Toronto Western November 2013. My Iron steadily dropped while the NP and RNs there at TWH kept telling me it was "fine." Fine my ass! At my 2 yr check in the Dietitian asked about my vitamins and what specifically I was taking, I told her I take Feramax for Iron. She said "oh ya sorry didn't anyone at TWH tell you that RNY patients don't break down the gel coating on the Fermax pill so you have to either open the pill and drink the Iron or take a different pill. At this point my Ferritin was already bad but they saw it as fine. So I started Proferrin Iron for 6 months as requested by her to see if my Ferritin would go up (got the Proferrin pills at Walmart, had to ask as they keep it behind the counter), and took 2 a day. There are terribly expensive but I have heard they are the best out there, they did not work for me as my Ferritin was already so low.

Unfortunately for me because my Ferritin was so bad even 2 Proferrin daily did nothing for my levels and I dropped to a Ferritin of 4 in June 2016. I went back and saw the RN at TWH and demanded an Iron Infusion. I told was no, that its too expensive and hurts (ummm we have OHIP so how is it expensive?). So I took matters into my own hands, I work at a hospital so I got Iron Infusions set up for myself and I have had 3 Iron Infusions (starting July 2016 was the first one, November 2016 was the second one, January 2017 was the 3rd one) and I went from a Ferritin of 4 to my Ferritin is now 237! That is from 3 Iron Infusions and I started the PatchMD Iron patch September 2016. I am over the moon happy with the results and I no longer feel like a walking Zombie with a Ferritin of 4. For the record the Iron Infusions don't hurt AT ALL. I sit for 2 hours in a lounge chair at the hospital and either read, do work or watch a movie and I have had zero side effects. I will be having blood work done in May to see where my Ferritin & other levels are at, but had I not taken my health into my own hands who knows how much more sick I would be right now.

Sorry you had that experience, hope you are feeling better. I suggest Proferrin Iron if you want to stick to oral iron and no coffee/tea/drinks with caffeine in them when taking the Iron. Best of luck!

must have been the iron. I've vomited a few times since surgery (well, a lot when I had strictures early on - and a handful of times since then). Like you or someone else said, it tastes like whatever food is coming back up - not that awful acid-y taste it used to have, and nothing like you described. It's actually much less gross than it was pre-surgery.

I can not tolerate oral iron. I've tried a variety of brands and types and none of them have stayed down for long. Vomitting up iron is absolutely awful. I'm sorry you experienced it. You might want to try a different type or brand to see if you can tolerate it better.