Do not take these pills without talking to your doctor or nurse first. Taking iron pills can cause side effects, including an upset stomach, constipation, and diarrhea. If taken as a liquid, iron supplements may stain your teeth. If left untreated, iron-deficiency anemia can cause serious health problems.
Having too little oxygen in the body can damage organs. With anemia, the heart must work harder to make up for the lack of red blood cells or hemoglobin.
This extra work can harm the heart. The chart below lists how much iron you need every day. The recommended amounts are listed in milligrams mg. See a list of good sources of iron. This is because the body can absorb iron from meat better than from plant-based foods. Find more sources of iron. During pregnancy, your body needs more iron to support your growing baby. In fact, pregnant women need almost twice as much iron as women who are not pregnant do.
Premature birth is the most common cause of infant death. Both premature birth and low birth weight raise your baby's risk for health and developmental problems at birth and during childhood. No, you do not need more iron during breastfeeding. In fact, you need less iron than before you were pregnant. The amount of iron women need during breastfeeding is 10 milligrams per day for young mothers 14 to 18 and 9 milligrams per day for breastfeeding women older than You need less iron while breastfeeding because you likely will not lose a lot through your menstrual cycle.
Many breastfeeding women do not have a period or may have only a light period. Also, if you got enough iron during pregnancy 27 milligrams a day , your breastmilk will supply enough iron for your baby. It might. If you still get your period and take menopausal hormone therapy, you may need more iron than women who are postmenopausal and do not take menopausal hormone therapy. Talk to your doctor or nurse. It could. Hormonal birth control, such as the pill, the patch, the shot, or the hormonal intrauterine device IUD , is often used to treat women with heavy menstrual periods.
Lighter menstrual periods may reduce your risk for iron-deficiency anemia. Also, the non-hormonal, copper IUD Paragard may make your menstrual flow heavier.
This raises your risk for iron-deficiency anemia. Talk to your doctor or nurse about your risk for anemia and whether hormonal birth control may help. You can help make sure you get enough iron by choosing foods that contain iron more often. Vegetarians need more iron from food than people who eat meat. Talk to your doctor or nurse about whether you get enough iron. Most people get enough iron from food. Yes, your body can get too much iron. Extra iron can damage the liver, heart, and pancreas.
Try to get no more than 45 milligrams of iron a day, unless your doctor prescribes more. Some people get too much iron because of a condition called hemochromatosis that runs in families.
Learn more about hemochromatosis , who is at risk, and how it is treated. In the U. The risks when you get blood are very small.
They include:. There are added costs for storage and processing, as well as hospital and equipment fees. Also, if you only use the blood you need, you are helping to keep a blood supply for other people. Some people have digestive problems when they take iron. Do not drink milk or take antacids at the same time as your iron supplements. They may interfere with absorbing the iron. It usually takes about 2 to 3 weeks of regular iron supplements before your symptoms start to improve.
You may need to keep taking iron for several months to build up your reserves of iron and prevent your anemia from returning. Take your pills for as long as your doctor recommends, even if your symptoms have improved.
Diet and nutrition. Eating more iron-rich foods is a good, natural way to improve your health. Even if you eat more iron, though, most people with anemia still need to take iron supplements. Iron rich foods include red meat especially liver , egg yolks, fish, peas and beans, chicken, and whole-grain bread. Vitamin C may increase the absorption of iron, and also helps your body produce hemoglobin. Whether you or a loved one has anemia or you just want to prepare for a conversation with your doctor, here are four crucial facts to know about anemia.
That condition could be relatively harmless or quite serious. Think of anemia like a fever. A fever is a tell-tale sign of another condition, perhaps a viral or bacterial infection. When doctors see a patient with a fever, they consider it a sign that something else is wrong in the body, and they immediately start trying to figure out what is causing the fever.
The same is true of anemia. There are dozens of causes of anemia, ranging from relatively minor things such as an unbalanced diet to serious problems such as cancer. Iron deficiency anemia , one of the most common types of anemia, can have a number of causes including heavy menstruation, celiac disease , pregnancy , colon cancer or simply not getting enough iron in your diet.
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