Iron supplement

Just got my six week checkup and thyroid values are in range. I found this to be quite surprising because I have been exhausted as of late. Heart rate seems quite slower than I would expect. Oddly enough my Hemoglobin and Hematocrit levels were a bit low 13.3 with a range of 13.4-18, and heatocrit 39.5 with a range of 40-54. I just had my gallbladder removed 6 weeks ago and am thinking my iron levels need to rebuild after surgery. Surgery went well and I am already eating normal, gaining some weight, and having much less stomach issues. If I choose to supplement iron what would some of you recommend? I don't want anything that has too much B12, it gives me insomnia. ????

[redheadaussie]

I take a product called SpaTone..It is fantastic! I was in USA just recently and mentioned to a pharmacist of it and he said he had heard of it and would get some in. You can try ferrous sulphate as I took that instead whilst in US and it works just as well. Liquid iron will be absorbed much better than a tablet. I know this as I am chronic aneamic all my life and the liquid iron gave me a level of 20 (AUS Labs 11-17) so that was great for me! I was always about 7 even when taking 5 tablets a day of 30mgs iron!
  Hope that helps!

[estrelinha]

Don't take iron supplements unless you have iron deficiency, your hemoglobin is ok for a woman, hematocrit is not so low. Iron must be taken if your ferritin is low, so if you want to know if you need iron you should test for Ferritin, tranferin, iron in serum, Vit B12, folic acid.

[estrelinha]

Should see the CBC (Hb, Hct, WBC, platelet count , RBC count) and a description of the blood smear). Also you should test for a reticulocyte count. This are the test for diagnosing anemia's causes , that I think you don't have, you had a surgery, lost some blood.....