Iron pills should not be taken every day

[davidadill]

My doctor told me to take 3 iron pills per day. Then another doctor told me to look at Iron Dosing for Optimal Absorption by David Green, MD, PhD reviewing Moretti D et al. Blood 2015 Oct 22. Their study concluded that more iron is absorbed if a single pills is taken every other day instead of 1 or more pills each day. This is certainly counter-intuitive, but a clinical trial proved it to be true for iron-depleted young women, at least.

[Joolsg]

You're not the first on here to mention that. I seem to recall reading a post that mentioned the brain actually stops iron absorption as a defence mechanism if taken every day. Think it was involuntarydancer.

After reading that info I started using my iron bisglycinate patches every other day- just in case.

Thanks for sharing that useful info.

[involuntarydancer]

I do this - read it somewhere a while ago - and last time I got my serum ferritin levels checked they had gone much higher.

[rkatt]

I took 25mg iron tabs for two weeks and began to feel strange, with overpowering headaches and wierd feelings of dissociation. Of course this may have had nothing to do with the iron. I might've been going bananas in the normal course of events, as one does. But when I stopped the iron, the symptoms went. So I'm interested in what you say. Maybe non-absorbed iron is destructive in large quantities. I'll try the every other day method. Thanks for the tip-off.

[Madlegs1]

Yes- someone posted this information a while back.

No harm in being reminded.

Thanks.

[Hidden]

I use it ever evening and if I miss it I miss it!

Had bloods done recently and although I take my 25mg of gentle iron in the evening and a multivit at night with iron my levels are back normal.

I thought that iron was needed to be taken daily although in a single dose as the body wont absorb the second dose taken in a day. Think I might have to stick to it daily - even if it is only placebo that's doing it for me, its still doing it and as you all know when things are reasonably settled one can be weary about changes.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I'm with you, I'm not ready to go to every other day. One and done...the RLS that is.