I have Crohn's Disease and recently started a course of Humira.

[HarryC]

I have noticed over the past few weeks, mid-treatment cycle I start feeling anxious, depressed and rundown, I was sent by my IBD adviser to my GP for some blood test which revealed Haemoglobin @ 9, B12 OK Folate OK and Ferritin down to 8. I was wondering has anyone else experienced this reaction with this medication and could it be an iron defiance ?

Best Regards

HarryC

[Gillian66]

Hi Harry! I have had similar experiences to you and have found an interesting diet free programme which helps me and my sister in law to be free of this condition! Can pass on details to your email!!

[HarryC in reply to Gillian66]

Hi Gillian, that's very kind of you my add is [e-mail]

[MarkBrennan]

Harry, I don't have Crohns, but quite recently one of the women who works in my local Co-op was admitted to hospital after collapsing due to the medication her doctor gave her for Crohns. She ended up in hospital for 4 days and another week at home on bed rest with pancreatitis because of it. I believe it was a steroid-based drug.

PS - I just Googled it and it looks like scary stuff. I guess it dampens the immune system?

[poing]

Hi Harry, I don't have Crohns' but I did have iron deficiency.

Anaemia combined with iron stores (ferritin) of 8 is pretty definitive for iron deficiency, I would say. The bottom of the range for ferritin is usually somewhere between 10 and 28, depending on the lab. Your doctor must have said something along these lines! Maybe they are hoping that things will improve as a result of the treatment?

In the meantime, you are free to eat as much steak as you like! Hopefully it agrees with you.

PS Humira is not a steroid, as far as I know.

[HarryC in reply to poing]

Hi Poing,

Thank you for your reply, I started taking Ferrous Fumarate 10 days ago and I seem to be improving a little, but apparently it takes some time to build one's Iron levels back to an acceptable level.

HUMIRA belongs to a group of drugs called biologics. Biologics are injectable protein-based therapies -- often antibodies – which have been developed through genetic engineering (DNA technology).

Thank you for your advice with the steak + spinach I think!!

Best Regards

Harry

[MarkBrennan]

Not sure if this is any help to anyone, but one of my cats has Megacolon. I have enough trouble 'keeping him going' as it is. Last year he became very lethargic, to the point of not having the energy to jump on a bed or walk up the stairs without difficulty. I took him to the vet where they did 'full bloods' from the preliminary results, all the vet could tell me was that he was anaemic, but had to send a sample off to a specialist lab. The results came back that he was deficient in red blood cells by 50% (which apparently they only consider to be moderate) My vet suggested me picking up some ferrous sulphate tablets for him. I know that they can cause constipation, so I did some homework and found some tablets with 'organic iron' in - apparently they don't cause constipation or other problems. My vet hadn't heard of them but gave his blessing to try them. I gave him one a day for 3 months. He started improving within a couple of weeks but the vet said it took a while. Thankfully he hasn't had it since. (He is hyperthyroid and has CRD so may have been connected to one of those)

Anyway, these are the tablets. amazon.co.uk/Floradix-Iron-...

They contain Ferrous Gluconate rather than Ferrous Sulphate. The extra vitamins can't do any harm either

You can also get them in Holland & Barrett.