Gentle iron

[Boldgirl45]

Hi everyone - I'm UK based, and wondered which brand you prefer gentle iron wise? Or is that actually a make itself? Thanks!

[Joolsg]

Any reputable brand will do. Gentle Iron is ferrous bisglycinate. Solgar are the most expensive. Holland & Barrett have their own product and often do BOGOF promotions. The pills are usually 25 or 30mg and it's fine to take 2 every other night.

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Joolsg]

Thanks so much 😊

[Munroist]

I use Holland and Barrett Gentle Iron which Jools mentions and take 2 x 20mg every other night. My ferritin went up from 75 to 140 using them but I couldn’t get it any higher. I did see a slight improvement, less twitchy at night although still waking 2 - 4 times.

[JacquiiCann]

I was taking Holland and Barrett iron tablets as it has vitamin c already in it. Unfortunately it did nothing. Doctor has now prescribed ferrous sulfate...within 2 days I noticed the difference in my stools ( much darker) I have to go back again soon for another test. Hope this helps.

[LotteM in reply to JacquiiCann]

Iron usually doesn't work instantaneously, except for a few. Only a small percentage of what you ingest gets absorbed, that is why your stool gets dark - you excrete most of the iron again. Raising iron in your body is therefore a drawn-out process. If iron is really low and it needs to be increased fast, you may be given an iron infusion.

[Hidden in reply to LotteM]

I disagree, the vast majority of people with RLS can be helped instantly with exceptions for people on SSRIs or reducing off DAs or spinal injuries or with serious chronic illness ie kidney disease. EVERYONE should try taking 25 to 50mg of ferrous bisglycinate one hour before bed on an empty stomach with the expectation it will relieve their RLS - because most likely it will.

[LotteM in reply to Hidden]

SanAndreas, you know as well as I do that "the vast majority" is a gross exaggeration. We son't know about the vast majority anyway, as most people with RLS do not get onto this forum or other fora. And even here on HU I only wish the vast majority indeed would get relief by taking iron late in the evening on an empty stomach. If only - indeed. You would instantaneously get the rls.org Ekbom award.

However, it is definitely crucially important to tell people about iron and inform them to try first and foremost to take iron late in the evening on an empty stomach.

[Hidden in reply to LotteM]

I did not make this discovery. Some one else did. I just copied. No award for me.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Hidden]

"the vast majority of people with RLS can be helped instantly...taking 25 to 50mg of ferrous bisglycinate one hour before bed on an empty stomach" is simply not the case. Yes - some may see this result; more will need to take for weeks to see a result; some will get no benefit from iron tablets at all. The same is true for Magnesium supplementation, albeit the proportion of people benefitting are lower than with Iron. Your base point - that EVERYONE should try mineral supplementation (and - in my view - medication review, diet and exercise regime changes) BEFORE embarking on the potentially slippery slope of prescription drugs for RLS - is a good one. But if there was a simple universal solution to RLS this forum wouldn't need to exist and certainly wouldn't have over 18 thousand members.

[Hidden in reply to ChrisColumbus]

I would need to hear the rhyme and reason behind why magnesium works. I know why the iron works.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Serum iron drops at night with a nadir at midnight. Some people think we get RLS because dopamine levels drop at night. It’s a little more complicated than that. Here’s dopamine’s circadian rhythm.

Using telemetry to record the sleep-wake cycle and microdialysis to chart extracellular striatal dopamine levels in nonhuman primates subjected to a lights on at 7 am, lights off at 7 pm schedule, the student found that dopamine levels are at their highest at 7 am. "Levels essentially decrease throughout the day. The nadir is 3 pm, corresponding to the 'primate siesta.' Levels then go up later in the afternoon and evening, peaking just before the lights go off in anticipation of sleep-possibly a circadian alerting signal," reported Rye. "They then decrease up until about 10 pm and then progressively increase all night until wake time."

Based on this, we should all have our worst RLS at 3pm. Yet we don’t. So I believe the true culprit is that drop in serum iron at night.

[DicCarlson]

All the ferrous bisglycinate chelate supplements (called gentle iron by some retailers) is produced by Balchem (formerly Albion). It is a patented formula. supplementsinreview.com/bra...

[Jerry57]

Hi Boldgirl45, Thought I I might add this note for what it's worth. Gentle Iron capsules did not work for me, but iron tablets do.

Months ago, I remember reading about Gentle Iron on this sight, and went out and bought some ferrous bisglycinate from the local store. After only one day, I noticed a big difference in my RLS, and after a few days, I was able to reduce my tramadol intake by 100mg/day. It was amazing!

The iron I bought was in tablet form under the brand "Doctor's Best High Absorption Iron 100% chelated with FERROCHEL". I was so glad to have found this iron, and all was well for months.

But then the store ran out of Doctors Best, not only that store, but every store was out, and I was forced to buy another brand. Thinking they were probably all the same anyway, I bought a bottle of SOLGAR brand Gentle Iron capsules. Surprisingly, the SOLGAR capsules did not work, and my RLS got worse, and I had to up my dose of tramadol back to where it was before. I was feeling depressed and sad.

But happy ending .... I eventually found the Doctor's Best brand on Amazon, ordered several bottles, and now I can say I am back to taking less tramadol, and life is good again. Is it the brand, the capsules v tablets, I don't know? We are all different, so perhaps this info will be useful to someone. Best wishes to you. I hope the iron helps you.

[Hidden in reply to Jerry57]

Fascinating!!! Love it! Welcome to the iron works immediately club. For quite a while now I have been opening up the ferrous bisglycinate capsule and pouring the contents into water. You would think it would dissolve completely yet it doesn’t. I add some Quercetin to it and then the water turns black with no powder left floating around. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but that’s what I do.

Most iron, including ferrous bisglycinate, is what is known as “non-heme” iron and has a plant source. The gold standard in terms of iron and humans is actually heme-iron (animal source) and sometimes I’ll take that instead. It’s absorbed in a completely different way than non-heme iron. I use a brand called Proferrin.

For me, I have to take my iron at night on an empty stomach. If I were to take it in the morning it would do nothing for my night-time RLS. Anyways, for any one reading this, if non-heme iron doesn’t provide instant relief, it might be worth it to try heme-iron.

EVERYONE should try this before they try drugs or go for an infusion.

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Jerry57]

Jerry this is really helpful, thank you. Can you tell me if this is the one?: amazon.co.uk/Doctors-Best-A...

Also: it doesn't exactly mention the words gentle iron but I presume that all ferrous bisglycinate could be considered as such? And sorry to ask such a personal question, but did it affect your stools / toilet habits in any way?

[Jerry57 in reply to Boldgirl45]

Yes, that is the brand that works for me.

No, it does not mention the words "Gentle Iron", but it is gentle on my digestive system, and does not affect my stools, IE, change the color, or give me constipation at all.

Like SanAndreas, I take it at night on an empty stomach. I usually take 3 pills, but I am still experimenting with the amounts and the time I take them at night. I hope it works for you.

[Hidden in reply to Jerry57]

It’s interesting that you take 3 iron tablets. Sometimes that’s what it takes. I wonder how many people who tried one iron tab and didn’t get relief might find taking three will do the trick? Might I recommend that you wait until the RLS kicks in then take the three capsules. If you’re like me, the RLS will fizzle out within an hour and you can go to sleep. It’s a very amazing and empowering feeling and I find the iron also makes me drowsy. If it doesn’t quite cover your symptoms then, and only then, take the tramadol. If three work then the next night try two. You can always take that third one after 60 minutes if two don’t quite cut it. Sound like a plan?

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Jerry57]

Thanks so much

[Boldgirl45]

Just to say thanks to everyone who has commented- I will work through all of these responses 😊