Question about iron infusions

[star0210]

My ferritin is at 20 but my iron serum is at 91 and my hemoglobin at 13.7 and hematocrit at 41.1.

Won't an iron infusion raise everything (except ferritin) too much?
I have an apt with my primary tomorrow and I want to discuss this with her...so I wanted to know how you all approach this with your doctors. My hematologist only cares about h&h levels.

I had an iron infusion in March of 2013... My ferritin was at 4, my iron was at 11, and my h&h we're both critically low....can't remember the numbers. This wasn't from my sleeve but from excessively heavy periods. I had a hysterectomy in Feb of 2013 and the infusion a month later. I had been a walking dead person basically for the whole year prior to that. Had even gone to the ER once after passing out 3 times back to back and hitting my head pretty hard on a windowsill. They said they couldn't find anything wrong with me. I asked them about my iron levels and the possibility of being anemic and they told me my levels were normal. I believed them and just kept trudging along. That was in early 2012. We didn't discover the anemia until my pre-op bloodwork for the hysterectomy. The heavy bleeding wasn't even WHY I was having the hysterectomy. That was a horrible year...so much of it I don't remember....but I DO remember feeling like I was literally freezing to death from the inside out and the days on end without sleeping because of symptoms similar to RLS. After that infusion kicked in, I was like a whole new person!

I don't ever want to get that bad again!

 

[Elizabeth N.]

While I have no medical training and cannot comment at all on the risk of those other levels being elevated, my own experience has been that where low ferritin goes, low everything else quickly follows in the face of any stressor, physical or mental. There's no way I'd be willing to even START a surgical process with a ferritin anywhere near that low. If you have followed Charris' struggles, one of her presurgical concerns was very low ferritin (if I recall correctly). Or I might be confusing her with someone else who had this issue and who had enormous complications.

If I were in your shoes, I'd want a very clear medical answer to these values and MUCH better ferritin, probably through infusions, before I'd feel safe undergoing even a toenail surgery.

 

[southernlady]

Put it this way...your hemoglobin is your checking account. The ferritin is the savings account that backs up that hemoglobin. Your hemoglobin is writing checks that your ferritin can NO LONGER honor.

My ferritin was 26 when I got infusions this summer. And if you have secondary RLS (sounds like you did), then the recommendation is for your ferritin to be above 50 and your iron saturation level to be above 30% regardless of your hemoglobin level. http://bariatricfacts.org/threads/low-iron-or-what-to-take-to-a-hematologist.1498/

 

[star0210]

what I'm wondering about is what the infusion does to those other levels when they are already normal. Will it make them TOO high creating an iron overload or will it all go to filling up your "reserve tank" ferritin first?

 

[southernlady]

what I'm wondering about is what the infusion does to those other levels when they are already normal. Will it make them TOO high creating an iron overload or will it all go to filling up your "reserve tank" ferritin first?

I had infusions in Aug/Sept time frame. Had my iron panel pulled in mid Oct (about a month out from infusions). Looking at the values, my hemoglobin is STILL normal but my ferritin went up as well as my iron sat level...so based on that I would surmise that it goes to the ferritin first.

 

[star0210]

Thanks!

 

[Sheanie]

@star0210 , not to worry. Those questions were exactly my concerns before my iron infusions. Your numbers ALL go way high after infusions, and that's good. Your hematologist will be able to better explain than I could. But what Southernlady just said is Bible. You need iron infusions. Do NOT have ANY SURGERY until your ferritin is triple digits. And KEEP it there. Also, you may want to get on Proferrin Forte heme iron tablets. My last iron infusion was November 2012, and I'm staying well on heme iron. Not that I wouldn't ever need infusions again, but Proferrin is slowing the mad drop in ferritin.

 

[star0210]

Do you know what the difference is between the Proferrin ES and Proferrin Forte? I was looking at them on amazon and couldn't figure out the difference.

 

[southernlady]

Do you know what the difference is between the Proferrin ES and Proferrin Forte? I was looking at them on amazon and couldn't figure out the difference.

Proferrin Forte has Vitamin C may be available OTC but at one time only by prescription (And MAY be covered by FSA/Health Saving Accounts and possibly have part paid by insurance... Proferrin ES does not have vitamin C and is available OTC only.

I checked my drug coverage this summer...they did cover Proferrin Forte but the copay for a 90 day supply was the same as what it costs for OTC Proferrin ES.

 

[star0210]

This is the one they have on Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Proferrin-For...id=1414611972&sr=1-1&keywords=proferrin+forte

Looks like I ordered the ES
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EJ9OV6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[southernlady]

This is the one they have on Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Proferrin-Forte-90-tablets/dp/B0085OTVJO/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1414611972&sr=1-1&keywords=proferrin forte

Looks like I ordered the ES
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EJ9OV6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It looks like they are offering the ES thru Prime which saves you shipping.

Oh, and sometimes you can get a heck of a deal thru the manufacturer, Colorado Biolabs. http://www.proferrin.com/ And I was right, the difference is the folic acid (vitamin C).