Iron rich recipes/meals

snowleopard61

Without asking for medical advice (which I'm aware is verboten), and without expecting anyone to be too personal, I would be very interested if anyone feels able to say why they have long-term problems with iron-deficiency anaemia. Although (luckily for me) I'm fine with ferrous sulphate tablets, the GP has made noises about getting the reason for my recurrent anaemia investigated, which is something I don't want to do (no fear of the potential results, just don't want the procedures). As I have had the problem recurrently for over 25 years and it has usually only been uncovered through attempting to donate blood (!), I am not particularly concerned, but would really like to know what others have found the cause to be.

Penny-Pincher!!

I take ferrous fumerate which is a high dose twice daily. You can get this in liquid form too if easier.

Lovelyjoolz

I, too, suffer from recurrent anaemia. Although usually only once very 2-3 years, thank god, because the tablets make me feel very poorly. Mine is usually only spotted when i go to give blood too.

Anyway, when I'm low in iron, I eat more spinach/red meat/dark chocolate (for medical reasons only you understand :rotfl:) etc etc etc.

But when I was last on iron tablets, I was watching QI and Stephen Fry said that Thyme is exceptionally high in iron - more than any leafy vegetable that we usually associate with high iron content. Dried or fresh, it doesn't matter apparently.

So now, I sprinkle dried thyme on everything, and I haven't had a low iron count for just over 3 years. I gave blood last week too, so I know I'm ok right now. Its lovely on salads, in omelettes, pasta sauces, shepherds pie. You name it, I put thyme in it!! It would also be lovely in the chicken soup recipe given above I suspect!

patchwork_cat

Apart from the breathlessness and palpitations that I get I always know when my levels have dropped badly as my tongue and mouth become very sore. Although if the OP doesn't suffer from Vitamin B12 pernicious anaemia I do take a vitamin B supplement to make sure that my levels are sufficient to make the extra red blood cells required.

snowleopard61

I should really have known last time as I had reached the point where walking upstairs made me feel faint and walking my normal half-hour home from work made me exhausted (don't know my ferritin level but haemoglobin was 6.6 which is pretty low). It was amazing how much difference the tablets made. My first assumption is always that I'm being pathetic and need to pull my socks up, so it was good to know it was something treatable.

Alton_Towers

Dried apricots are full of iron, I was advised to snack on these when pregnant.

Smokemeakipper_3

Sounds silly but make sure you have fortified breakfast cereal and drink a glass of orange juice before you eat it. I was anaemic while pregnant and was supposed to take two iron tablets but could only manage one every other day as they made me itch terribly and I made my skin raw! But anything is better than nothing.

Penny-Pincher!!

snowleopard61 wrote: »

Without asking for medical advice (which I'm aware is verboten), and without expecting anyone to be too personal, I would be very interested if anyone feels able to say why they have long-term problems with iron-deficiency anaemia. Although (luckily for me) I'm fine with ferrous sulphate tablets, the GP has made noises about getting the reason for my recurrent anaemia investigated, which is something I don't want to do (no fear of the potential results, just don't want the procedures). As I have had the problem recurrently for over 25 years and it has usually only been uncovered through attempting to donate blood (!), I am not particularly concerned, but would really like to know what others have found the cause to be.

Mines down to my SLE, Hughes and other drugs I'm on. I was on ferrous sulphate but wasn't enough, so got switched to ferrous fumerate and also have intense iron infusions every few weeks.

I always have OJ with any meals and iron tablets as this helps the iron absorb better.

Maybe your GP could test for basic auto-immune diseases first. Process of illumination really.

Have you lost weight recently or gained, changed diet, cut certain foods down etc?

Waffle_On

If you can't stomach much of the iron rich foods mentioned, I can completely recommend Spatone... a bit pricey but they do the trick and don't seem to have the same side effects as other supplements.

Cornflakes are my favourite way to up my iron levels though!

Penny-Pincher!!

Waffle_On wrote: »

If you can't stomach much of the iron rich foods mentioned, I can completely recommend Spatone... a bit pricey but they do the trick and don't seem to have the same side effects as other supplements.

Cornflakes are my favourite way to up my iron levels though!

I use these too and put it in a little OJ. You can sometimes get from H&B on offer.