Iron Deficiency

Low iron stores in the body/blood. Most common cause of Anemia.

Iron deficiency evaluated for with iron panels for Fe Sat (iron saturation) and ferritin. Iron levels in blood is often not enough for diagnosis of iron deficiency without Fe Sat and ferritin. Fe Sat is calculated as serum iron level divided by total iron binding capacity (TIBC), expressed as a percentage.^[1]

As you might guess, iron deficiency is treated with iron supplementation. Usually, this is given oral (PO) iron tablets, which we recommend patients take with vitamin C which improve absorption, and Colace (stool softener) to help prevent constipation.
However, many of our iron deficiency patients don't have success with these pills, which is why they are being referred to our office for iron deficiency in the first place. This can be because, they can't tolerate the pills and have side effects like constipation, or the iron pills don't work because they aren't absorbing enough iron or they are losing iron faster than pills can replace it.2
In these cases, we offer IV iron, which replenishes iron stores much faster than PO iron without many of its side effects. The downside of IV iron is that it requires the patient to spend time in office, up to 8 weekly treatments. Occasionally patients will have cramps, bone pain, and very rarely allergic reactions.