I have only been taking Spatone drinks since then as iron supplement I was taking had magnesium in it and dint know this until I felt unwell with low blood pressure which I suffer with and checked the label so stopped taking it.
Got my Three Arrows Iron Repair Simply Heme which was kindly recommended by FallingIn Reverse. Yesterday I took two capsules - one in the afternoon and one in the evening and have taken one so far today.
I used the website to work out that for my weight I could take 2-5 capsules per day - should I stick at 2 for a while or can I increase it? Have been feeling so ill last while with severe fatigue and heart palpitations. Thank you!
FallingInReverse
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jenny876
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SlowDragon you had also kindly commented on my post "New Results Thyroid, Vitamins" a month ago - would be grateful for your thoughts on Three Arrows Heme Iron dosing. Thank you
Personally I’d stick to one a day, it’s very effective. Serving size says 1 capsule. After 2 bottles I should have cut down and didn’t levels went a bit high despite fibroids and heavy menstruation. I now take 1 a day during a period and twice or 3 times a week the rest of the time. 🌱
Take iron every other day. It works better like that. There's info online about this and Dr. Paul Mason's lecture on iron deficiency explains this. Check on Youtube.
There are 20 milligrams of elemental iron in each capsule. Heme iron is absorbed better than the other forms available. That's slightly more than the iron in 100 grams of beef liver.
If you take 40 milligrams per day you need to test after 3 months.
I'm not sure if the dose is this high how much of it will just bypass the enterocytes in the part of the gut (duodenum and jejunum) where iron is absorbed. The problem with taking iron supplements is the body won't absorb more than a certain amount at any one time. And it takes a while for ferritin to increase anyway. For sure do not take 5 capsules because that's just a waste of money.
According to Dr. Alessio Fasano, the world's top coeliac specialist says iron is absorbed only by 4 inches of the gut because iron is so toxic in high amounts the body protects itself from absorbing excess. In your case, for whatever reason, you haven't got as much iron inside your body as you should.
And thank you for tagging me… I have two concurrent Three Arrows experiments going on in my household right now : ) with my daughter and me, and have done a ton of primary research on the mechanisms of all the different ways we can ingest iron, how it’s absorbed. Here’s my thoughts:
The one big takeaway is that every single one of us absorbs iron at a different rate. At first, my daughter’s iron went from about 50 to 210 in 5-6 weeks of 2 three arrows a day! Her ferritin went up a few points too. I then reduced her to about one pill twice a week… and her iron went back to range, and her ferritin still inched up. Success! During that same time for me, I took the same Three Arrows dosing and my iron has been all over the place and my ferritin has not budged!!!
So you have to start and test and learn about yourself.
Iron can vary wildly in short times … in fact, an iron rich meal the night before the blood test will bump your iron up. Ferritin on the other hand - moves so slow! Months and months and sometimes a year or two in many peoples experiences. So my balancing act is to find just the right dose of Three Arrows to keep iron at that 55-70% through range, which is “enough” for your body to feel ok sending some to storage (ie ferritin.) but not too much to be toxic.
Note - you have a weak iron panel overall so definitely a good time to kick off a smart supplementing approach… your iron at 10 is low enough where you have a lot of room to increase, and your saturation is also under where it needs to be for your T3 to do its job at the cellular level. Your ferritin is like mine - on the floor!!!! All indicators that you definitely need more iron.
So - if I were you I would either take one a day for 8-10 weeks and test again… or take two a day and test 6-8 weeks. Doing this you will calibrate your dosing to your individual results.
A month of high iron won’t kill ya, but you do not want to make a habit of it… iron toxicity is no joke. Iron that is near top/over range over time causes irreversible organ damage.
Keep in mind also - the biology of eating vs supplementing iron is night and day. You can’t really eat your way to iron toxicity for a few reasons (I mean you could but you would have to eat an impossible amount of food at once)… mainly because our body does have very effective natural defenses to block excess iron when you eat it. BUT BUT BUT supplements completely overwhelm those defenses. That’s why we have to treat supplementing so carefully and test so often.
Lastly - heme has less restrictions than other types of iron supplements. You can take on an empty stomach or with food and you will avoid stomach upset that synthetic iron pills cause.
That being said - iron in any form can block thyroid meds - so leave 4 hours on both sides of that. Also - calcium at moderate levels blocks all iron when taken together, as do a few other food categories - here’s one of many articles that lists some of those out: livestrong.com/article/2843...
Thank you for your detailed reply! Ive been taking aspirin for years for pain which i think has led to my issues with low iron so havent taken any for last few days, its hard but necessary I think if Im to get better.
I feel so awful for the last week - shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, palpitations etc... so have been taking two a day since last Thursday and will get tested in around 7 weeks time.
Ive always been vegetarian but have been making myself eat black pudding and beef burgers to try to get my ferritin up. Its interesting the difference the same dose has had with you and your daughter, there are lots of individual factors at play with these kinds of things. Thank you for the all the info
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Iron Panel Results
Ferritin, Iron & Iron Binding - Haemochromatosis / Iron Avidity / Iron Overload - Blood results
Iron Panel Test Results - Any feedback welcome
