Taking 195mg of iron pills a day: did you lose your appetite?

[Gardner-NY]

My spouse with doctor's orders around July 8 started taking 195mg of iron pills a day (had been taking 65 mg for months) due to "low iron stores"/low hemoglobin and severe fatigue since February. Did anyone take a high dose of iron for a long time and lose their appetite? HE received his kidney transplant 8 months ago. Thanks for writing.

[JackFrost1]

Sorry I’ve never had to take iron pills . My deficiency is magnesium .

[JackieShan]

Hi, I had chronic anaemia with first transplant. When I was taking iron, the first medication that I received was ferrous sulphate, which had a very negative effect of my GI system - stomach cramps, nausea, loss of appetite etc - and this is apparently very common with ferrous sulphate. Then, one of my doctors suggested replacing this med with ferrous gluconate which is easier on the GI system - wow, such a difference - no problems at all. After I was put on EPO, if my iron levels dropped, I was given ferretin intravenously - someone would come to my house to give it to me and I would pop home from work. This is an option that you could ask about. Hope that he feels better soon.

[Gardner-NY in reply to JackieShan]

Thank you Jackie Shan for your response about low iron and medications that were better for your GI system.

[JackieShan in reply to Gardner-NY]

You are most welcome. I hope that he feels more comfortable very soon.

[Gardner-NY in reply to JackieShan]

HI JackieShan, Since Feb 2019 his iron stores and hemoglobin have been low and have not gone up much and stayed there. He has extreme fatigue and other than walking in the house some, he is so tired all the time, he lays on his couch watching tv most of the day while I work all day. He will make us supper and after eating, lay down for hours afterwards. His stamina is so low and it's hard to watch each month like this going on. The first 2 months after transplant he was on my treadmill 2-3 times a week doing 1-2 miles at incline walking and said he felt great. After a native kidney cyst burst in early Feb and 2 wks later in late Feb he had "low grade rejection" going on, it has been one problem after another.