Ferrous Fumarate - any update on availability?

Just wondering whether anybody has heard anything.

I've now had to stop taking Fersaday as stomach pain has become unbearable so now seeking an alternative, ideally one that doesn't need taking with meals.

[humanbean]

I have to take ferrous fumarate with meals otherwise it feels like it is burning a hole in my stomach. With food though, I don't have a problem.

I have to try and get some ferrous fumarate ASAP. I'm not looking forward to the aggravation of finding it.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

humanbean - Do you take yours in 3 separate doses? I struggle anyway with slotting it in between two lots of T3 plus other supplements.

I've given up with trying to find it which is how I ended up with Fersaday.

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

Hi cinnamon_girl,

I'm no longer taking 3 ferrous fumarate 210mg a day because I don't need to raise my ferritin any further, I'm just trying to maintain it at a good level. Unfortunately it does start dropping very quickly if I stop supplementing altogether, so most of the time I take 1 a day, but if I start getting breathless while going upstairs I will take 2 a day for a few days, then drop back to 1 again.

I got Fersaday today, something I've never had before. I think I'll cut one tablet into 2 and take 1/2, once or twice a day, depending on how I get on with it. No ferrous fumarate was available in any of the four pharmacists I tried. All I was offered was ferrous sulphate which I can't tolerate at all.

I'm currently taking T3 twice a day. When I was taking three doses of Ferrous Fumarate 210mg a day I fitted it in (approximately) as follows :

7am - First dose of T3

11am - First dose of iron

3pm - Second dose of T3

7pm - Second dose of iron

10.30pm - Third dose of iron

Now that I'm only taking iron once or twice a day it makes life a bit easier.

I've just realised something. As I mentioned above, I've never bought Fersaday before today. And it is higher dose than the ferrous fumarate 210mg. So the maximum dose is 2 tablets a day. If you've been taking 3 per day, this could be why you are having so much difficulty tolerating it.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

humanbean - interesting what you say about maintaining a decent level, something I'll need to be careful with.

Recommended dosage for Fersaday is one tablet daily but two per day in severe cases. I probably shouldn't have taken 2 at once although even taken with food meant a stomach ache.

With your T3 and iron schedule how on earth could you have fitted in any other supplements??!!

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

I took other supplements with the iron - not always ideal, but couldn't think of any other way of getting them all in.

[Clutter in reply to humanbean]

HB, Pure Nature FF on Amazon. I can't see what strength.

[humanbean in reply to Clutter]

Thanks Clutter, I'll look into it.

[Clutter]

C-g, Pure Nature FF on Amazon. I can't see what strength.

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Thanks Clutter, will check that out.

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Ordered, thanks Clutter!

[Clutter in reply to Hidden]

C-g, were you able to find out what dose?

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Clutter - 44.6mg providing 14mg, claiming that's 100% RDA.

[Clutter in reply to Hidden]

C-g, I thought the usual dose was 210mg x 3?

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Clutter - I'll be honest and say I'm totally confused now!!

Fersaday apparently contains the equivalent to approx 106mg elemental iron and dosage of 1 per day although 2 per day in severe cases.

What exactly is 'elemental' iron?

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

Ferrous Fumarate has the chemical formula :

C4H2FeO4

This means that each molecule of ferrous fumarate contains :

4 atoms of Carbon (C4)

2 atoms of Hydrogen (H2)

1 atom of Iron (Fe)

4 atoms of Oxygen (O4)

So, when people buy 210mg tablets of ferrous fumarate, they aren't just buying iron. They are buying carbon, hydrogen and oxygen too.

If I had 210mg of pure ferrous fumarate, it would contain 69mg of iron. The rest of the weight is made up of the other substances - carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

The 69mg is the elemental iron.

Hope that helps.

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

I should add to my post above :

Fersaday could be called Ferrous Fumarate 322mg and it would be an accurate name.

There is more ferrous fumarate in a tablet of Fersaday than there is in a tablet of Ferrous Fumarate 210mg.

So as a result there is also more elemental iron in a tablet of Fersaday - 106mg as opposed to 69mg in a tablet of ferrous fumarate 210mg.

The maximum dose of elemental iron that people should take in a day is very approximately 200mg.

Three tablets of ferrous fumarate 210mg contains :

3 x 69mg = 207mg elemental iron

Two tablets of Fersaday contains :

2 x 106mg = 212mg of elemental iron

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Thanks very much humanbean for your posts, most helpful.

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

Another point...

If you had perfectly good health, a healthy and varied diet, absorbed all the nutrients from your food that were necessary to good health, and all your nutrients were at good levels, then to maintain your good health and your good levels of iron, you would need 14mg of elemental iron per day (according to the people who set these levels).

So the RDA - Recommended Daily Allowance - of iron is 14mg.

It is worth pointing out that many people claim the RDAs for lots of nutrients were set at an absurdly low level. For example, the RDA for Vitamin C is allegedly set at a level just above what is needed to avoid scurvy.

So they were aiming to avoid ill health when they set the RDA levels. They were not aiming to promote good health.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieta...

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

More good stuff, thanks! I honestly didn't realise that RDA's were not all they were cracked up to be and it's misleading to Joe Public.

[missymystique in reply to Clutter]

I ordered it from ebay yesterday but now I hesitate. should we trust online shops?

[Clutter in reply to missymystique]

Missymystique, why not? I order most of my goods online including supplements.

[missymystique in reply to Clutter]

this will be my first time, I thought they might not be real since we cannot buy ferrous fumarate in Holland without prescription.

[Clutter in reply to missymystique]

Missy, you should check that you are allowed to import prescription only meds into Holland. It's permitted for UK citizens to import for personal use but regulations differ across different countries. FF isn't prescription only in the UK.

[humanbean]

I found this newsletter for GPs and pharmacists :

corbyccg.nhs.uk/modules/dow...

which mentions that the MHRA has said there will be a shortage until June (i.e. this month). There is no sign where I live that the shortage has ended yet though.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Thanks, that's informative.

[humanbean]

I went to my local big Tesco today, and the pharmacy had ferrous fumarate 210mg in boxes of 84 tablets, made for (not by) a company called Aver Healthcare UK. In tiny letters it has the logo fssai, which I found on google is the initials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_...

There is no patient information leaflet, and no indication of who actually manufactured the tablets.

They cost £4.20 per box. I bought two boxes. If Tesco are selling them I'm assuming they are fine.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

humanbean - isn't it amazing what you can buy at Tesco??!! I think I would feel happier if there was a PIL with them though.

Thank you for posting this, am waiting on my online order to arrive but it's always useful to know there's another supplier.