I have been a vegetarian for most of my life, and while my iron has always tended to be on the low side, it is now borderline too low for the first time (the lowest acceptable ferritin level is 16, which is what I got).
I am wondering if anyone has a multivitamin with iron that they like. The only one I could take without nausea is off the market; that is the only significant change I can think of. I currently take the Trader Joe's high potency chewable, but apparently it's not cutting it. Thoughts?
Thanks! I'll look that up.
Wow! People are quick to say that if I ate meat, I wouldn't be anemic, but you are proof that it can happen, @sunshine . I just googled FeraMax...it seems like they only ship in Canada? I'm in the US. Is it a powder? Does it cause any side effects for you?
My ferritin is 16, currently.
I'm taking iron supplements for chronically low ferritin levels.
I was taking a prenatal multi-vitamin when I developed the deficiency. Pre-natal vitamins are supposed to have higher amount of ion in them but I still developed a deficiency. I'm not a vegetarian and eat red meat 2x a week. I give that context because I don't believe a multi vitamin of any kind will contain enough iron to bring up iron levels that are already low and can really only help sustain current levels. I have been on FeraMax iron supplements for almost 6 months. They contain 150mg of iron. My ferritin was 12 when I started taking them and was 18 when I checked in November.
As far as vitamins and stomachs go, it helps to take them with a solid meal, so much so that I now take them after breakfast instead of first thing. There were too many mornings where I'd take my vitamins, get distracted, and thirty minutes later feel like I'd eaten a television remote. They tend not to sit well on water alone, or a couple bites of something. I've also taken pills that can cause nausea at night before bed. Then if it makes me queasy, I don't know it because I'm asleep.
Thanks for the responses! My doctor was pretty useless. She said she tells most people to just take One A Day Women's or something like that, but that and Alive did not work well for my stomach. Maybe I'll give Nature Made a try. I am not super happy with this doctor anyway, so maybe it's a good time to look into other options.
Can you get a doctor to give you a prescription or recommendation? From my pregnancies, I know that’s a common time to be iron deficient, and the doctors generally can give you a specific supplement that’s easier on nausea and other side effects.
I also just take a multi with extra iron, personally.
I've been taking Nature Made multivitamins for years. The women's version has iron, though I take the 50+ now without it. We also use iron cookware and eat our spinach. I don't have any experience with fixing a deficiency though. Maybe someone else can speak to that.