Hi, I have a few questions for anyone nice enough to answer. I had a gastric bypass in 1994 and are not able to absorb iron. Lon g story short, had all the usual symptoms, my family physician did not see anything wrong until suddenly my iron was too low to be even counted. Now I am cold, dizzy, foggy-brained, you know the story. I am getting my first Iron infusion this Wednesday and I am scared!!! Is it painful? How long will it take for me to feel normal again? Did anyone of you gain weight after your infusions? Anything I should look out in terms of side-effects?

Thanks you and God Bless.:)

Hi, I have a few questions for anyone nice enough to answer. I had a gastric bypass in 1994 and are not able to absorb iron. Lon g story short, had all the usual symptoms, my family physician did not see anything wrong until suddenly my iron was too low to be even counted. Now I am cold, dizzy, foggy-brained, you know the story. I am getting my first Iron infusion this Wednesday and I am scared!!! Is it painful? How long will it take for me to feel normal again? Did anyone of you gain weight after your infusions? Anything I should look out in terms of side-effects?

Thanks you and God Bless.:)

I have had an iron infusion. I had a reaction to it with my heart palpating and they had to slow the rate in which they gave the infusion. For one week afterward I ran a fever of 100.1 F or thereabouts. I was tired, and achey. This was in addition to the fatigue I was already experiencing from the low iron. In the coming weeks I picked up about 5 pounds of additional fluid which I needed because I was so dehydrated, that it was more of a problem than the low iron was. I have never needed another transfusion that I know about. My current GP threatens me now and then that if the Ferritin drops below 3 she will have to give me an infusion, but I have told her that as long as the hemoglobin is 10 or above I am staying away from the iron. She laughs a little nervously but she also knows I am correct. I am not bleeding, I am not tired, and those CBC results are universal numbers. I am personally in my "normal range". Also the infusion was not anymore painful than getting an IV of saline solution. It did not burn ache at the site or anything. That is a personal issue people who have tender skin, or hard to stick veins. After losing weight down to 120 lbs my veins are the most prominent thing about me. Ha HA.( The fever by the way, is the metabolism picking up speed which accounts for the fogginess and dizziness and I am so allergic to stuff I probably was allergic to the preservative in the iron solution.) It took them 12 hours to complete my infusion because of my heart palpatations. Other people do not have to go as slow others may go slower.

Hi, I have a few questions for anyone nice enough to answer. I had a gastric bypass in 1994 and are not able to absorb iron. Lon g story short, had all the usual symptoms, my family physician did not see anything wrong until suddenly my iron was too low to be even counted. Now I am cold, dizzy, foggy-brained, you know the story. I am getting my first Iron infusion this Wednesday and I am scared!!! Is it painful? How long will it take for me to feel normal again? Did anyone of you gain weight after your infusions? Anything I should look out in terms of side-effects?

Thanks you and God Bless.:)
I've had an iron infusion every Friday for the past 8 weeks. It takes about 1/2 hour and is relatively painless, except for the stick of the IV. I also had gastric bypass 2 years ago. My ferritin had dropped to 3. It's now back up to 63 and my hemoglobin up to 12.2 so the iron IV's can be stopped for a while. I had absolutely no reaction. There was just a problem starting the IV's - the nurse told me because I was anemic my veins were small.