Iron Toxicity question

[aksquestion100]

My doctor prescribed me iron supplements 2 months ago because she said m iron was low after a blood test.  The label on the prescription says "ferious sulfate 325 mg". If im not mistaken that is about 65 mg of iron (20%).  From what I have read the tolerable upper intake level for iron for a female in her 40s is 45 mg/day.  My question is are these supplement harmful to me because they are more than the upper intake?  

Also I want to take multivitamin supplements which contain 18 mg of iron.  If I take both the iron supplements from my doctor and the multivitamin supplements will it bee too much iron for me?

Thank you

[James G Beckerman, M.D.]

I suspect that this amount of iron is safe, but it's a good idea to get retested.

[Jaquta]

I expect there would be benefit in taking the iron supplements as you have a deficiency.
Doctors have a reasonable amount of training so I expect they do what they believe to be in our best interests.

I read on the Internal Medicine expert forum that iron deficiency can take between 3-6 months to resolve and quite possibly even longer (6-12 months).

I don't know about the multivitamin but you could discuss that with your doctor.  You must be due for a follow-up blood test sometime soon.