Iron-deficency anemia? Good supplement suggestions?

As a vegetarian (not vegan) I've taken an iron+C supplement for years. Just kind of an insurance thing to make sure I get enough iron in my diet- but I also get a lot of dietary iron from dark leafy greens and I eat eggs almost every day too.

Anyhow, I started feeling extremely fatigued in December. Like, it's hard to put one foot in front of the other. Sleep doesn't help. This is like a fatigue and a weakness, not a sleepiness thing. Very frustrating for me because I'm usually a pretty active person. Brain fog too, which is also very frustrating for me.

I finally went to do the doctor last week to see if she had any ideas of what was going on. Blood tests showed anemia (CBC was off - like high RDW, low hemoglobin and hemocrit, etc. etc.) So she pulled an iron panel (?) which showed everything indicated iron deficiency anemia. I remember iron saturation was one number on the panel... it was supposed to be 22-50%, and mine was 4%. All the number were way out of range like that, nothing borderline. I don't have a real handle on if this is a serious anemia, or just a standard-issue iron-deficiency anemia.

My doctor suggested upping my iron (of course). She is also sending me to a GI doctor (oh for the love of all things HOLY, I don't want to go a GI doctor! I'm embarrassed just thinking about it) because she thinks I could have some GI bleeding going on.

Does anyone have experience with this? I've been a vegetarian for 20 years and never had my blood numbers tank like this, but I can already hear all my smug meat-eating friends saying "see?! I told you that you needed some meat!" Haha!

Anyone have good supplement suggestions that helped you get your iron-levels up?

Thanks, everyone!

Red meat

a reply to: VegHead

I used to take kelp tablets, which are rich in many minerals including iron.

I also use cast-iron pans for most stovetop cooking - you get some iron in your diet from that as well (just make sure you take good care of them - you need to hand dry them so they don't rust)

I'm sure others have more advice here, I'm not anemic but I do try to find ways to naturally get essential nutrients in my diet.

Hope it helps VegHead!

December...fatigued, brain fogging..yeah I have that too...it is called Seasonal Affective Disorder...ie. winter blues.

As far as blood counts...maybe get a second opinion. Blood tests have been known to be wrong now and then. Also CHICKEN LIVER helps to get your iron content up.

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

a reply to: Indigent


OP did say they are a vegetarian. I feel like the first response may have been half-jokingly though


Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is primarily from lack of Vitamin D, which we usually naturally get from the sun. I take 5,000 iu of Vitamin D a day to help with this since I live in the snowy Northeast US

originally posted by: Indigent
Red meat

Haha! You just had to "go there"...

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: VegHead

I used to take kelp tablets, which are rich in many minerals including iron.

I also use cast-iron pans for most stovetop cooking - you get some iron in your diet from that as well (just make sure you take good care of them - you need to hand dry them so they don't rust)

I'm sure others have more advice here, I'm not anemic but I do try to find ways to naturally get essential nutrients in my diet.

Hope it helps VegHead!

Thank you for the good advice. I'll look into the kelp tablets. And I had heard that before about cooking with cast-iron, but I've never tried it. I enjoy cooking, so it might be an excuse to get something new for my kitchen. Thanks!

a reply to: VegHead

Kelp tablets also have small amounts of iodine in them - so it's good for your thyroid, but you want to make sure you're taking the recommended dosage and not more than that.

Cast iron pans are great, the only downside is how heavy they are, and having to pat-dry them but for health reasons I've decided it's totally worth it.

Non-stick pans are quite unhealthy. Best of luck VH!!

originally posted by: Skywatcher2011
December...fatigued, brain fogging..yeah I have that too...it is called Seasonal Affective Disorder...ie. winter blues.

As far as blood counts...maybe get a second opinion. Blood tests have been known to be wrong now and then. Also CHICKEN LIVER helps to get your iron content up.

You are very wise to point out the timing and the symptoms being similar to SAD. I'm doubtful that is the case with me, though... I've never had seasonal issues before. My blood counts are very far off - not just a few indicators and not just borderline. There really isn't any question that I have anemia - iron deficiency anemia specifically. The fatigue and brain fog and almost certainly caused by this rather than something else (like season affective disorder).

But I do agree that blood tests can be wrong, and our levels (for certain things) also change day by day, hour by hour.

Thanks for your response!

If you want to get plenty of iron into your system quickly, take 2 tablespoons full of molasses.

It has a great deal of iron in it. You can see the percentage on the label.

It is also very fast acting.

originally posted by: antoinemarionette
If you want to get plenty of iron into your system quickly, take 2 tablespoons full of molasses.

It has a great deal of iron in it. You can see the percentage on the label.

It is also very fast acting.

Thanks!! This makes me want to run to the store right now to get some. Seriously... I need a shot of something to keep me upright!

a reply to: VegHead

1 oz of molasses has 7% daily value.

nutritiondata.self.com...

As other posters have said, meat. Liver would be a very good start. Are you morally a veg?

originally posted by: FamCore
OP did say they are a vegetarian. I feel like the first response may have been half-jokingly though

No, I wasn't joking. Fact: There are a lot of people who suffer through SAD. It may also compound any symptoms of someone with low iron counts is experiencing.

Yogurt, spinach, most greens actually.
Any ferris sulfate tablets will help.
It's an element. Hard to mess those up.
No need to get fancy.

Never mind the above. OP knows this. That will teach me to not read just the title.
Never mind the post about sugar either.
I guess that's obvious. See ya

There are a few things that could be going on.

I'll try to just suggest eating a few things.

Eat some Organic rolled oatmeal twice a week. It is sold in bulk at coops and is reasonably priced.

Use a cast iron frying pan to cook in occasionally. The iron can be used by the body.

A lot of nitrogen foods, leafy green veggies, can overload the molybdenum co-enzyme ability of your body. so the Oatmeal contains molybdenum in pretty decent amounts.

Molybdenum, copper, and Iron work together and this involves sulfur metabolism to work right. The increased green leafy veggies can overload our bodies ability to properly work, even boosting molybdenum can't solve everything with the MOCO genes if there is reduced activity. ajcn.nutrition.org...

I can't tell you what to eat but sometimes if you eat too much mushrooms in the diet the copper levels can get too high. Molybdenum does work in the blood cells along with copper to increase oxygen carrying ability of the blood, just make sure you get enough copper and you do not have to boost molybdenum consumption too much. I take a multimineral with a hundred sixty percent RDA of it along with a twenty five percent iron supplement in it in a bioavailable form every day. It also has other minerals in it but if you are eating a high vegetable diet, you just need to supplement enough molybdenum to process the extra nitrogen in the veggies. Wheat germ is also a good source but it is bound in wheat germ so proper stomach enzymes are needed to get that out.

Here is another article explaining about molybdenum use in bodies and how the molybdopterins are important. It is possibly not that you are deficient but that you might have a reduced MOCO enzyme ability genetically. Not everyone can be a vegetarian but we do benefit by eating vegetables. Molybdenum helps us to metabolize sulfur.
www.jbc.org...

I ended up in the hospital with 'inexplicable' anemia several years ago (I'm not even vegetarian - though I don't eat much meat at all), my hemoglobin was so low, they ended up transfusing two units of blood into me!

They tested me for everything under the sun, and never found a cause, no bleeding problems anywhere...

...Anyway, what I found out in doing research on my own is that it it's not 'just' iron that you need to supplement -

- you may also need to supplement vitamin B-12 (especially if you are vegetarian)..

Unfortunately, it's been so long, that I can't quite remember 'why', I just know that I haven't had any problems since I started supplementing both iron and B-12...

...anyway, thought I'd share that info, in case you want to check into it.

a reply to: VegHead

I have the opposite problem, hemochromatosis.

Foods I'm supposed to avoid include iron-fortified cereals.

a reply to: VegHead

Consider an organic food grade iron like Garden of Life s liquid Organic Iron .
Its made from shade grown curry leaf and amla berry in a patented process. Highly absorbable..based on a Tamil Ayurvedic formula.

So many great suggestions! Sorry I can't respond to each post individually right now, but really appreciate everyone's time and thoughtful replies. Lot of great things for me to look into!

Thanks, ATS!