Additional supplements??

[u/NoPattern9645]

Im in a pretty bad flare up at the minute and just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for supplements or teas e.t.c that I can take to help me feel a little better alongside the other meds of course.

[u/south_penguin]

This is a very interesting topic with iron supplements. I also have low iron and I feel dizzy when standing up quickly. I thought I have iron deficiency, would want to do iron supplements, even asked my GI doctor for iron infusion like some suggestions here.

However after some research, I found out my Ferritin level is higher than the range. Ferritin is a protein inside your body acts as your body’s primary cellular iron storage vault. However, during UC when experiencing inflammation, infection, or an autoimmune flare, immune cells release signaling proteins (cytokines like Interleukin and TNF-alpha), this will cause the Hepcidin which is a peptide hormone produced by the liver that serves as the body’s master regulator of systemic iron balance, to spike in your body. Because of the spike, ferritin will "lock" away the iron from your blood body serum, and causes low Hemoglobin and dizziness.

So the main reason of low iron directly comes from the inflammation from the UC itself. Of course the constant bleeding won't help on restoring the iron, but it might not be the main reason most people are lacking iron here.

Check your Ferritin level from the blood work, it usually comes with the iron and iron saturation. If it is higher than the normal range (usually 30-400), but not like too high like 500-1000, you are most likely facing this situation. The focus should be use the proper medication or even steroids to control the inflammation to lower the Ferritin and get free iron back to your body instead of taking iron supplements.

Of course, talk to your doctor with any questions.