The Iron Story
There is a second key cause of anemia: not enough iron. Iron is the building block your bone marrow needs to make red blood cells. The word hemoglobin comes from the root word heme — which means iron. Iron is part of hemoglobin. You need both EPO and iron to make red blood cells.
Your body treats iron as a precious metal. It tries to reuse as much iron as it can. So, most of the iron to make new red blood cells comes from your old red blood cells once they break down. But, when your kidneys don’t work well, your body can’t absorb much iron by mouth. And, you can’t reuse it as well, either.
When you lose blood through lab tests, dialysis, surgery, or bleeding, it can make anemia worse. With hemodialysis, you lose 2-5 liters of blood a year. In fact, you lose 5-7 mg of iron at each treatment. And, when you are short of red blood cells, each drop of blood counts!
Tip: Ask for child sized blood tubes when you have blood drawn for tests.
Studies have found that this saves you blood—and does not change your test results.
If having some iron in your body is good, more must be better. Right? Wrong!
Having too little iron can harm you—but so can having too much iron stored in your body. Extra iron can:
- Raise your risk of infection—or even cancer
- Make heart and blood vessel disease worse
- Harm your liver
As with most other things, you need the right amount of iron.
Fast Facts About Iron
- Some foods have a lot of iron. These include all kinds of liver, iron-fortified cereals, beef, pork, chicken, lima beans, and kidney beans. Some of these may not be good choices for those on dialysis, or on a special diet. Talk to a dietitian before you make a food change.
- If you take iron with coffee or a high-fiber diet, you will absorb less of it.
- Iron pills or vitamins with iron are the number one cause of poisoning deaths in children under 6. This is true even when childproof caps are used. They can look like M&Ms, and children think they are candy. As with all of your drugs, keep iron pills out of the reach of children.
- One of every 200 to 300 people has hemochromatosis. This genetic problem causes too much iron to build up in the blood. The treatment: removing some blood.
Try to rank these events in the order that they occur (1–5):
