How can I fix my iron deficiency with my severe anxiety?

[Blondiexxoo]

Hey everyone! I have a question that maybe you guys can help me with. I have an iron deficiency. It makes me really tired and there's a good chance it's behind my thinning hair. I can't take supplements because I can't swallow pills whole and you have to for iron pills. There's a children's chewable but it has yellow dye in it and I'm allergic to that. I can't take liquid because my doctor says it stains your teeth and I'm not taking that risk. In addition to all this, I have a severe fear of throwing up and diarrhea which are side effects of iron supplements and I really can't handle that. I wouldn't be able to eat for days.

So what can I do? I'm a very picky eater so I don't eat red meat, liver, or spinach. I do like turkey, ham, and chicken but I don't eat it very often cause I have a fear of the possibility of food poisoning. I don't even know if those are rich sources of iron. My doctor said I need to be eating over 100% of iron a day and some days I have gotten over 100% and some days I get close like 85% even though it's from cereal, eggo waffles, bread, pasta, and oreos. I'm sure every little bit counts. I think (although I'm not for sure) I started becoming iron deficient a while ago when I wasn't getting enough and this is the result now. Like for example, I used to have a peanut butter on a bagel and blueberries for breakfast like 2 years ago which had basically no iron. Now my breakfast has 50% iron and I drink orange juice with it which helps your body absorb it. So is it possible I can get my iron back up through food or is it not likely? What would you do?

---------- Post added at 21:07 ---------- Previous post was at 21:05 ----------

I forgot to mention it's my ferritin that's low. My hematocrit and all that is normal.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think if you can only use your diet, your doctor needs to be giving you advice on the correct diet or referring you to a dietician to do the same.

I don't know if its any help, or if its even available in the US, but over here we have something called Spatone which is iron infused water. Its all natural because the high iron content comes from the rocks where the water is taken from. It gets some good reviews on Amazon from what I recall from people who experienced side effects of iron supplements. I can't see how this would stain teeth with it being a water as I assume your doctor meant specific iron liquid supplements that they prescribe but it should say if it does as they would need to print it as a warning.

[chickpea]

I think if you can only use your diet, your doctor needs to be giving you advice on the correct diet or referring you to a dietician to do the same.

I don't know if its any help, or if its even available in the US, but over here we have something called Spatone which is iron infused water. Its all natural because the high iron content comes from the rocks where the water is taken from. It gets some good reviews on Amazon from what I recall from people who experienced side effects of iron supplements. I can't see how this would stain teeth with it being a water as I assume your doctor meant specific iron liquid supplements that they prescribe but it should say if it does as they would need to print it as a warning.

Spatone is fantastic - no nasty side effects and very palatable; you mix it with orange juice, to help absorption.
I had it during both pregnancies, on the advice of my midwife and it did wonders for my iron levels.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Spatone is fantastic - no nasty side effects and very palatable; you mix it with orange juice, to help absorption.
I had it during both pregnancies, on the advice of my midwife and it did wonders for my iron levels.

Thats great to hear chickpea.

I've seen it in supermarkets and thought about giving it a try. I always used mineral supplements without iron in due to the constipation it gave me and the people in the reviews were not experiencing these types of problems.

[PanchoGoz]

Also there's many over the counter iron tonics out there. They don't stain your teeth.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Also there's many over the counter iron tonics out there. They don't stain your teeth.

Good point Pancho, I forgot about the others. I remember when I was looking at Spatone there were various on the supplement websites so I expect there will be the same or equivalent brands in the US.

[Blondiexxoo]

I've never heard of that. I'll have to check it out! Thanks for the recommendation!! :)

[Blondiexxoo]

I've looked for Spatone at the grocery store and haven't had any luck finding it. I've checked several stores. I really don't want to order it online. So Idk :(

I have an appointment with a dietician to point me in the right direction foodwise but as far as a supplement or something else to help, I haven't had any luck.

[kristaok]

Let me be honest with you here... The daily recommendations aren't enough, truly they aren't, they are the bare minimum. Everyone IMO needs vitamins and supplements, the food we eat today is practically stripped and void of a lot of vitamins. Foods back in the day had way more vitamins than the food we eat today. I have a whole drawer full of vitamins, I at least take a handful of vitamins, vitamin c powder, and green miracle. I do take iron when its my monthly cycle. Iron hasn't made me have diarrhea at all, everyone is different of course. Vitamins can cause nausea when you first start taking them but eventually that will subside, just take them with food.

Ever tried liver and onions? Liver has tons of iron. Try eating eggs I think it has iron too, also some oatmeal's are iron enriched.

Again your best bet is trying to take an iron supplement, the benefits FAR outweigh the issue of swallowing... You really don't want to get too weak.

[Blondiexxoo]

Let me be honest with you here... The daily recommendations aren't enough, truly they aren't, they are the bare minimum. Everyone IMO needs vitamins and supplements, the food we eat today is practically stripped and void of a lot of vitamins. Foods back in the day had way more vitamins than the food we eat today. I have a whole drawer full of vitamins, I at least take a handful of vitamins, vitamin c powder, and green miracle. I do take iron when its my monthly cycle. Iron hasn't made me have diarrhea at all, everyone is different of course. Vitamins can cause nausea when you first start taking them but eventually that will subside, just take them with food.

Ever tried liver and onions? Liver has tons of iron. Try eating eggs I think it has iron too, also some oatmeal's are iron enriched.

Again your best bet is trying to take an iron supplement, the benefits FAR outweigh the issue of swallowing... You really don't want to get too weak.

Thanks for the advice! May I ask which iron supplement you take? I'm going to ask my doctor if I can crush it and take it in applesauce. Because I'm sick of being so tired and exhausted! Did you have any nausea when you took it or not when you took it with food? I'm not a fan of liver but I do like eggs. I wouldn't want to have them with breakfast because then I'm replacing my 50% iron from breakfast with a smaller amount but I could have a couple hard boiled eggs with dinner.

[kristaok]

Thanks for the advice! May I ask which iron supplement you take? I'm going to ask my doctor if I can crush it and take it in applesauce. Because I'm sick of being so tired and exhausted! Did you have any nausea when you took it or not when you took it with food? I'm not a fan of liver but I do like eggs. I wouldn't want to have them with breakfast because then I'm replacing my 50% iron from breakfast with a smaller amount but I could have a couple hard boiled eggs with dinner.

Its a small white pill , the ones I take are by Spring Valley I think. Puritans Pride and Nature Made makes good supplements also.

If I do get nauseous it'd be light then again I have astigmatism which causes me to be dizzy and nauseous anyway.

If you take it with food it shouldn't cause nausea, and if it does don't worry its not bad, iron supplements can only help you.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Let me be honest with you here... The daily recommendations aren't enough, truly they aren't, they are the bare minimum. Everyone IMO needs vitamins and supplements, the food we eat today is practically stripped and void of a lot of vitamins. Foods back in the day had way more vitamins than the food we eat today. I have a whole drawer full of vitamins, I at least take a handful of vitamins, vitamin c powder, and green miracle. I do take iron when its my monthly cycle. Iron hasn't made me have diarrhea at all, everyone is different of course. Vitamins can cause nausea when you first start taking them but eventually that will subside, just take them with food.

Ever tried liver and onions? Liver has tons of iron. Try eating eggs I think it has iron too, also some oatmeal's are iron enriched.

Again your best bet is trying to take an iron supplement, the benefits FAR outweigh the issue of swallowing... You really don't want to get too weak.

I completely agree with this. RDA's are for average states. Its just like when you get into weightlifting and the sports mags start to tell you that you are no longer anyhere near average or RDA's anymore.

I haven't looked into studies of these requirements for people like us but its something we need to understand because we have all the science telling us we are burning through the bodies nutrients at a far quicker rate but at the same time they don't stick their neck out and tell us what to do about it!

Also, I think I've read that due to the changes in our digestion, we don't even digest a lot of the nutrients we eat & drink so we can't even look at what we eat and have a good indication of what we are really digesting.

[kristaok]

I completely agree with this. RDA's are for average states. Its just like when you get into weightlifting and the sports mags start to tell you that you are no longer anyhere near average or RDA's anymore.

I haven't looked into studies of these requirements for people like us but its something we need to understand because we have all the science telling us we are burning through the bodies nutrients at a far quicker rate but at the same time they don't stick their neck out and tell us what to do about it!

Also, I think I've read that due to the changes in our digestion, we don't even digest a lot of the nutrients we eat & drink so we can't even look at what we eat and have a good indication of what we are really digesting.

We definitely need more than what the guidelines say, but unfortunately a lot of people are fooled and won't take any sort of supplement and if they do its just a multi vitamin.

I've tried to tell family about taking vitamins and what all I take and its like a joke to them... they just don't get it, but I do because I research things constantly, natural cures are my first route.

I'm big into what others call "conspiracy theories" so I do believe in things like the CDC, AMA, FDA, etc. is just interested in monetary gain and not to help people. Its all a form of population control, yet they need live people and they need them sick. Take cancer, 10k a week for chemo treatments when they can take natural cures like budwig, green miracle, vitamins, apricot kernels, vitamin b17/laetrile, etc. but the cancer industry won't tell people about that because it's a cheap cure and they won't be raking in the dough anymore... It's sick the levels even doctors will go to for money...

What's sad too is its all considered conspiracy, laughed at, shrugged off and ignored, when people need to wake up and do their research.

Sorry for ranting lol anyhoo... I take at least a handful of vitamins a day along with powders and drops of various sorts. I've never had the flu vaccine and I've never had the flu. I don't get any vaccinations and I rarely get sick, if I do get sick it's usually just a 3 day cold.