6 year old with Iron deficiency problems - questions!
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6 year old with Iron deficiency problems - questions!
My son is 6, and has had a history of terrible sleep problems which have made the last 6 years very hard for our family. Along with the sleep issues, he's had extreme anxiety and anger problems, and a has a generally morose mood. Physically he's always had very pale skin.
He usually eats well (far better than most of his friends) and has always had a good varied diet with plenty of fruit, veg and red meat.
When he was 3/4, a blood test showed low levels of iron - not extremely low, just slightly under the normal range. We were prescribed a course of iron supplements (Sytron) which lead to a slight improvement in his symptoms.
We were then told by the doctor that we needed to stop those supplements and after 30 days have a blood test. We did this, and the results were that he was now within the normal range (albeit the lower end). However his symptoms quickly went back to normal. The doctor was insistent though that he did not need iron supplements as his levels were now normal again, and that we should focus on his diet which we did, to no avail.
My son had very extreme emotional reactions to the needle for both these blood tests which led to us being loath to put him through further tests.
A couple of years later (with his symptoms continuously bad throughout) we decided to try him on supplements again ourselves. After a couple of weeks on Feroglobin, he was a different child! Sleeping well, loads of energy, happy and confident. Family life become infinitely better.
He was on Feroglobin for a couple of months before we noticed his teeth were staining and turning brown. We then took him off the Feroglobin and booked a doctors appointment to ask advice. Within 3/4 days, his symptoms started returning. After another few days it got very bad so we put him back on the Feroglobin and after a couple of days - life was good again, albeit his teeth don't look great.
My wife saw the doctor and she recommended our son come off the Feroglobin for 30 days and then have an blood test.
However on further thought, the idea of taking him off the supplements and the sleepless nights and behaviour problems returning for at least a month is too horrifying to contemplate! The doctor doesn't seem to have any further ideas.
Questions -
What would you do in the same situation?
Can we just carry on blindly giving him Feroglobin daily without knowing what his iron levels are?
Should we plan to stop sometime, or just keep going indefinitely?
If we are to carry on with the Feroglobin, what can we do about the teeth staining?
Thanks!
He usually eats well (far better than most of his friends) and has always had a good varied diet with plenty of fruit, veg and red meat.
When he was 3/4, a blood test showed low levels of iron - not extremely low, just slightly under the normal range. We were prescribed a course of iron supplements (Sytron) which lead to a slight improvement in his symptoms.
We were then told by the doctor that we needed to stop those supplements and after 30 days have a blood test. We did this, and the results were that he was now within the normal range (albeit the lower end). However his symptoms quickly went back to normal. The doctor was insistent though that he did not need iron supplements as his levels were now normal again, and that we should focus on his diet which we did, to no avail.
My son had very extreme emotional reactions to the needle for both these blood tests which led to us being loath to put him through further tests.
A couple of years later (with his symptoms continuously bad throughout) we decided to try him on supplements again ourselves. After a couple of weeks on Feroglobin, he was a different child! Sleeping well, loads of energy, happy and confident. Family life become infinitely better.
He was on Feroglobin for a couple of months before we noticed his teeth were staining and turning brown. We then took him off the Feroglobin and booked a doctors appointment to ask advice. Within 3/4 days, his symptoms started returning. After another few days it got very bad so we put him back on the Feroglobin and after a couple of days - life was good again, albeit his teeth don't look great.
My wife saw the doctor and she recommended our son come off the Feroglobin for 30 days and then have an blood test.
However on further thought, the idea of taking him off the supplements and the sleepless nights and behaviour problems returning for at least a month is too horrifying to contemplate! The doctor doesn't seem to have any further ideas.
Questions -
What would you do in the same situation?
Can we just carry on blindly giving him Feroglobin daily without knowing what his iron levels are?
Should we plan to stop sometime, or just keep going indefinitely?
If we are to carry on with the Feroglobin, what can we do about the teeth staining?
Thanks!
- talkhealth
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Re: 6 year old with Iron deficiency problems - questions!
Hi MonkeyMagic99
Thank you for your post. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you are currently experiencing with your 6 year old, whilst we cannot advise whether to continue or discontinue medication we would recommend consulting with your doctor, if you are not getting the answers you want from your current doctor, do try a second opinion. Have you consulted a dentist in relation to the teeth staining? Do they have any recommendations?
We do currently have two free support programmes which you may find helpful, mysleep, https://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/psp/sleep.php and mywellbeing, https://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/psp/wellbeing.php.
Please let us know how you get on.
Kind regards
talkhealth
Thank you for your post. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you are currently experiencing with your 6 year old, whilst we cannot advise whether to continue or discontinue medication we would recommend consulting with your doctor, if you are not getting the answers you want from your current doctor, do try a second opinion. Have you consulted a dentist in relation to the teeth staining? Do they have any recommendations?
We do currently have two free support programmes which you may find helpful, mysleep, https://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/psp/sleep.php and mywellbeing, https://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/psp/wellbeing.php.
Please let us know how you get on.
Kind regards
talkhealth
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Re: 6 year old with Iron deficiency problems - questions!
yeah, it is really a challenging for every parent. Do not panic. I would also suggest to go for second opinion rather following the same recommended by this doctor.
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Re: 6 year old with Iron deficiency problems - questions!
I would do what you did for him, take a lot of iron.MonkeyMagic99 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:16 pm
Questions -
What would you do in the same situation?
Can we just carry on blindly giving him Feroglobin daily without knowing what his iron levels are?
Should we plan to stop sometime, or just keep going indefinitely?
If we are to carry on with the Feroglobin, what can we do about the teeth staining?
Thanks!
Its good to go for check ups through blood samples and perhaps urine samples.
Keep going although too much iron can be a bad thing, that is why you should go for a checkup.
Tell him to brush often and ask your dentist about that. Its all about teamwork to get the job done.