Iron levels low

JessicaRabbit62020
JessicaRabbit62020 Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I got my physical and my iron levels are a bit low. I’m not sure if it’s my diet, or something else. The doc wants me to take iron pills for 30dys. I hate taking any pills etc. Has anyone had these issues when resuming workout and diet activities?

Replies

  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,204 Member
    jessicalucero062018 wrote: »
    I got my physical and my iron levels are a bit low. I’m not sure if it’s my diet, or something else. The doc wants me to take iron pills for 30dys. I hate taking any pills etc. Has anyone had these issues when resuming workout and diet activities?

    I have chronically low iron. If I don't take my iron tablets I feel fuzzy, in a funk and awful.

    Within a few days of taking them I feel 1000x better. Just more alert, awake and able to do things. My running, exercise and general wellbeing is so much improved with iron supplements.

    Iron is so important, it's the bit that binds oxygen to your blood cell to be transported around your body. There are other ways to increase iron, but supplements are the easiest and cheapest if you are chronically low. Just make sure you have plenty of water and fibre in your diet because iron tables can cause to to get a bit constipated.

    Good luck!
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    Hepcidin is a regulator of iron in the body. When we take supplements daily, our levels of hepcidin stay high and less iron is absorbed. When we take supplements every other day it allows for hepcidin levels to drop and more iron from the supplement is absorbed.

    Talk to your doc about this. The research came out in a 2017 study and my docs really liked it and encouraged me to take a high dose every other day. I found this out a month before I had surgery to remove fibroids that were causing extremely heavy bleeding. In that month alone I raised my ferritin levels by 15 points. I had been dosing daily for over 12 years at that point and my levels had never moved beyond the barely detectable until I dropped dosage to every second day.

    Also, to help prevent in the future: eat red meat a few time’s a week, eat lots of leafy greens, when you eat these items eat a vit C containing food as well to help absorption, take a vit C tablet with your supplement, cook in cast iron or buy one of those iron fish and use it while cooking, avoid coffee, tea, or other medications for at least an hour after taking your supplement.

    Low iron sucks! I am glad yours was caught before it is too bad!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    jessicalucero062018 wrote: »
    I got my physical and my iron levels are a bit low. I’m not sure if it’s my diet, or something else. The doc wants me to take iron pills for 30dys. I hate taking any pills etc. Has anyone had these issues when resuming workout and diet activities?

    I'm anemic and didn't like the first two iron pills my doctor prescribed, but fortunately iron comes in many forms, and I was able to find a form that keeps both my iron and energy levels up, which is iron bisglycinate.

    I'm not able to control my anemia by diet only, but you might be. Swap out something like sugar or sodium for iron here https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and on that same page change your diary setting to Public and I'll take a look.

    It's important to use entries with correct values. I've never seen any errors in micros for the ones that MFP pulled from the USDA database. However, the user-created entries often have incorrect values for iron - people often mistakenly put in mg instead of %, which is what MFP uses, or just don't bother to add micros they don't care about, so will leave iron out altogether.

    Furthermore, if you are relying on foods that were fortified with iron, like cereal, you'd be better off taking a supplement.

    And to answer your question about diet, yes, after moving to vegetarian yoga communities, ceasing to eat red meat, and not compensating for this, my iron levels got dangerously low.
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
    I get low iron due to heavy period times. Or miscarriage. So I take the supplement easy on tummy and food based. I try to up my iron with iron rich foods as well as taking some other supplements too.
  • JessicaRabbit62020
    JessicaRabbit62020 Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you. I have two days of heavy periods as well. That may be causing it.
  • JessicaRabbit62020
    JessicaRabbit62020 Posts: 10 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    jessicalucero062018 wrote: »
    I got my physical and my iron levels are a bit low. I’m not sure if it’s my diet, or something else. The doc wants me to take iron pills for 30dys. I hate taking any pills etc. Has anyone had these issues when resuming workout and diet activities?

    I'm anemic and didn't like the first two iron pills my doctor prescribed, but fortunately iron comes in many forms, and I was able to find a form that keeps both my iron and energy levels up, which is iron bisglycinate.

    I'm not able to control my anemia by diet only, but you might be. Swap out something like sugar or sodium for iron here https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and on that same page change your diary setting to Public and I'll take a look.

    It's important to use entries with correct values. I've never seen any errors in micros for the ones that MFP pulled from the USDA database. However, the user-created entries often have incorrect values for iron - people often mistakenly put in mg instead of %, which is what MFP uses, or just don't bother to add micros they don't care about, so will leave iron out altogether.

    Furthermore, if you are relying on foods that were fortified with iron, like cereal, you'd be better off taking a supplement.

    And to answer your question about diet, yes, after moving to vegetarian yoga communities, ceasing to eat red meat, and not compensating for this, my iron levels got dangerously low.

  • JessicaRabbit62020
    JessicaRabbit62020 Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you everyone for your responses. It’s very helpful. I haven’t had red meat in over a year and that’s possibly another reason. I appreciate all of your support.

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