Anemia Support Group

I'm trying to eat foods high in iron to get my levels up but I'm not sure how much is too much. Would just eating the daily value be enough? Can you overdose on iron from food?

nicolep, I don't think you are in any danger of overdosing from iron in foods..If you have too much iron in your body already then there would be no need to eat a special diet unless the Dr. advises it.

But if you are iron deficient even a little bit, it would only help you to eat iron rich foods

It's close to impossible to overdose from food unless you're already too high in iron.

You can cook in iron skillets, eat liver and spinach, red meat, chocolate, etc, and pretty much never get high enough if you have anemia or even normal iron levels.

Waytoohandsome- my sentiments exactly...As a matter of fact...buying iron skillets on my TO DO LIST

Waytoohandsome and TaraT,

Thanks! I will definitely get as much iron as I can then and hope that helps. I bought a cast iron skillet and can't wait to use it.

Hi nicolep! Where'd you buy your iron skillet? They are hard to find...and when you do find them it's hard to get the really heavy thick ones. I HAVE seen them in the camping dept. at walmart...I wonder if there is any way to make sure it is a good quality iron and not mixed with other metals that could be harmful?

I know if you can get some at an estate sale that are really old then they will most likely be in really good shape...

I'll ask my wife; she knows stuff and I'd be guessing.

TaraT,

I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, the last few days have been stressful. My husband bought the skillet at Walmart but I'm not sure of the quality. That's one of the reasons I haven't used it yet I know there is a company online that sells all cast iron products. If you want, I can look it up and get you the name but if I remember correctly, they are expensive. It's a good investment for people like us though.

Off topic, I went to the hematologist yesterday and he said he wants to see me back in 2 weeks but he took blood and my hemoglobin is 14. I won't get the results back for my ferritin until I go back but it's definitely still low. He is probably going to prescribe ferrous sulfate when I go back. I haven't heard a lot of good things about it but I guess I don't have a choice. The best part is that I went to my regular doctor the other day and she said a level of 23 for ferritin is fine and the hematologist said anything under 70 is low. My regular doctor also said and I quote "we don't always find out what is wrong with us." Great doctor, huh?

Well I would always take my hematologists word over the regular doc because frankly the hematologist is the specialist here.

Most regular doctors only know the basic numbers and cut offs for what they "think" is normal. I had a regular doc almost let me DIE until I landed in the hospital and the ER doc IMMEDIATELY gave me 3 pints of blood.

My iron was SO low that the hematologist told me after I was out of the hospital and getting the iron infusion that I was "expiring" when I went to the hospital. My body was almost completely depleted of IRON STORES and that is why even the blood I HAD in my body was abnormal.

The cells were half the size they were supposed to be and collapsed....Great regular doc eh? The regular doc let me live like that for a year before I almost died from it.

The hematologist could not find the reason behind it all...as we all know...they shrug their shoulders when they can't find the "reason" and just label us with pernicious anemia.

SO at that point you have to think about something else going on. When EVERYTHING else has been ruled out then we must be our own best advocates and find answers through others that have been through it and our own research.

Personally I have an underlying infection...we suspect lyme and strongly suspect bartonella...I am going to see a specialist for this within the next month..Just waiting on the appointment.

SO many other diseases can cause anemia and for some reason those diseases are NEVER entertained as even an idea of what COULD possibly be the reason...

So I would say go with what your hematologist says and when he shrugs his shoulders and says "I don't know"....then look into other things...Follow your symptoms even if they are all anemia symptoms and look them up to see what else fits...Something will come up even if it takes time..

Until then all we can do is try to stay as well as we can with diet and supplements...

*HUGS* to you ...and thank you for the info. on the iron skillets...I would love the link to this company online that sells the iron skillets...I can try to look up their info. and see what they actually put into their iron and how pure it is...

I sure hate that anyone is going through what we are going through but at least we have eachother!

I'd agree with Tara - regular doc isn't up on reality of low ferritin. I've only had one doctor say that level is OK, but every other doctor totally disagrees.

Do you actually FEEL fine? If not, I'd go with the hematologist's point of view here..