How much iron do you take if your levels are low?

[GentleOrange]

And what brand? My ferritin levels were 20 (on a 10-200 scale). I have been taking one spatone sachet a day, and I have started increasing it to two sachets from today, but is that enough?

[kat199698]

Hi, my iron was low like yours, I'm up to 38 now, its taken about 6 months. I have 2 sachets of spatone a day. My doc says to continue with this as its a slow process but it will gradually go up it just takes time. Kat x

[GentleOrange in reply to kat199698]

Thank you! I was worried about overloading with iron but spatone is supposed to be quite gentle isn't it!

[kat199698 in reply to GentleOrange]

Yes it is. I did take ferrous sulphate tablets at first but they didn't agree with me.

[Moggie]

I take ferrous sulphate 200mcg's daily and it has taken me about 7 months to get my levels from 12 to 63, with the aid of a good vitc powder for absorption.

Cant say for definate that you can buy these over the counter, although I'm sure you can. I also take them on a full stomach to limit the risk of gut lining damage and, at least, four hours away from my thryoid meds.

Moggie x

[jasperc163]

Hi - I had very low iron levels (iron and transferin under the range) and ferritin at 35. After 4 weeks on 2x spatone my iron and transferrin improved but my ferritin was 32 :-(. I didn't like taking the ferrous fumarate so tried Solgar's Gentle Iron which is iron bisglycinate 20mg per day as I had read a few positive reviews. Just had my ferritin retested after 2 months and it has gone up to 49 so i consider that to be a good result (especially as i am vegetarian and haven't made any drastic changes to my diet). No side effects.