My doctor prescribed me an iron supplement for anemia...?

Question

And the pill is 325mg.

But I read that the body can only process around 100mg a day?

Which is right? I believe the pill is 200mg of actual iron and 100mg of other ingredients... but that's still more than 100mg?

I was just wondering about that... and also why is she giving me so much iron!

Answer 1

Doctors are the wrong people to see about nutrition.  They do not have any formal training on this subject and for them to recommend vitamins, etc. is like having your hair dresser tell you how to fix the transmission on your car.

As marvelous of a job doctors do, nutrition is not one of them.

I suggest you get an opinion from a Certified Nutritional Therapist that can test you for nutritional deficiencies and tell you exactly what you need and how much to take and not do a bunch of guesswork.  It's definitely not good to take single element nutrients.  Nature does not work that way and it's for a good reason.  The body uses complexes of nutrients and when you take a single nutrient, especially synthetic garbage, your body will use it at first, but then it will damage your DNA and cause many problems.

If you are iron deficient, you may be lacking cofactors that cause your body to digest or use the iron you have rather than having a deficiency in your diet.  If that is the case, giving you more iron may actually cause you to become more deficient due to the imbalances that can happen.  A good example of this is all these zinc tablets everyone takes.  Zinc and copper need to be in balance in the body or too much of one or the other will cause a big deficiency.  Copper is necessary for the Adrenal Glands to work properly.  Zinc is necessary for the Prostate to work well.  When the body consumes complexes of both of these, it has an innate intelligence that makes it happen correctly.  If you take zinc tablets, you may find your Adrenal Glands not working well and creating many problems for you.

good luck to you

Answer 2

If she gave you that much, then you need it. Your body probably is very poor at absorbing it, so that is why she prescribed you that much.

Answer 3

If you look at the bottle, I think 325mg of iron is actually only 60mg of elemental iron (which is the actual iron).  If you are anemia, your body will soak it up like a sponge.  Once the anemia is resolved, then you have to worry about overdosing.

Answer 4

If your doctor prescribed it to you that means you need it. I take iron supplements also I am anemic. Your body will take it in it will only make you better. But, if you have an issue you can always talk to your doctor about it.

Answer 5

Standard iron supplements such as ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) need to bind elemental iron to something else to make it easier for you to absorb.  300 mg of FeSO4 gives about 60-80 mg of elemental iron.  Your body can only absorb so much.  Have you had your ferritin (storage iron) or TIBC (total iron binding capacity) checked as well?

A Hg of 9.6 is low...the normal range is 13-16 or so.  The CAUSE of your iron deficiency needs to be identified...it is either excess blood loss (in women, heavy periods can be the cause) or your marrow isn't making enough.

Follow your doctors advice. You may also want to look at your diet.  Natural sources of iron are red meat and leafy green vegetables.

Another answer implied that doctors get "no training in nutrition" which is false.  We do get some along with everything else we study, but I will concede that most of us were kind of bored in nutrition classes...it wasn't why we went to medical school.  

A certified nutritionist has much better training..in nutrition only...than us MD's, and obviously is interested in it.  I routinely refer people to nutritionists for this reason once I have identified a dietary/nutritional problem.  A nutritionist would need to work with your doctor.

Answer 6

Iron suppliments can be recommended for some women because menstruation can deplete the body of iron, which is in red blood cells.   Normal periods usually need it.  Are you having heavy or freqent periods?  Have you had a loss of energy?  If it's the amount advised by your doctor, I would trust it unless you have any side effects.

Answer 7

I had anemia also.............i was pale and had dark circles under my eyes...................................i... healed now from our Lord And SAVior JEsus Christ! Eat more red meat............ROast Beef sandwiches all the time...........