Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

These are some really great Iron pills! Allow me to tell you why.... In early 2013, I was having issues with my hair thining and finally I told my primary care doctor to send me to an endocrinologist to be tested since she couldn't really give me reasonable answers to my issue. After getting a full panel of blood work done and having it indicate that I almost had no iron in my body, I spoke to my brother (who is a health enthusiast) and he told me to look into the issue of thinning hair and low iron in women. Low and behold, I found a lot of information about women's thinning hair issues and having low iron with and without anemia. On my follow appt to have my test results interpreted by endocrinologist, I was armed with my research and she too confirmed that having such low iron could be contributing to my issue so she prescribed me 325mg of ferrous sulfate (which equals 130mg of elemental iron). This dosage is 600% more than the daily recommended iron dose for women! Yes, my iron was that low... As i looked back over previous blood test from my annual physical exams, apparently it had been like that for years. But because my ferritin level was at the very bottom end of the very wide range of what is considered normal, my primary care Dr didn't bother to mention any concern for the issue. This is why, to some degree, I've learned the hard way that you really have to take your healthcare in your own hands. Anyhow, after just taking the prescription drugs for 2 or 3 days, my stomach was in so much pain that I had to leave work a few times. The prescription drugs also causes you to be very constipated and after having regular bowel movements several times a day, I don't do constipation well at all. The endocrinologist told me that I would have to take those pills about a year to get my iron and ferritin levels up to par, but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to suffer taking those pills for a whole year because they debilated my quality of life just that much. So, I started looking for alternatives immediately and I came across these pills. To put this review in perspetive, in Aug 2013 before taking these pills my ferrition was 11.6 on a scale of 11.0-307 and my iron was 27 on a scale of 50-212. Research says that you need to get ferritin levels up to at least 70 for several months before any significant change with hair can be seen. I was taking NOW 18mg pills alone and they helped a lot. However, because I needed way more iron to build of my iron stores (i.e. ferritin, since it's the hardest to build up) and I didn't want to pop the NOW iron pills all day long, in addition to taking 18mg of NOW iron pills, I now take Ferrett's Iron Supplement because you get 106mg elemental iron in one pill with the Ferret's brand iron. In late Sept 2013, I began taking one and a half 18mg Now iron pills first thing in the morning with a tangerine (Vitamin C helps increase absorption) and 2 hours before having any dairy (dairy decreases iron absorbtion). At night, I take 1 Ferretts Iron Supplement pill and one GNC 1000mg of Vitamin C tablet before I go to bed. I am delighted to report that my 3rd blood test that I took on Nov 6, 2013 revealed that my iron level is now 168 and my ferritin is 49.9. That is truly amazing! I am very glad that I choose the natural alternative to increase my iron levels and depending on your iron needs, if you try either of the two products (NOW 18mg iron and/or Ferrets 106mg) you will be glad too! I only wish that Ferrets also made a 130mg pill so I wouldn't have to also take the lower doses of the Now iron pills, but I'm thankful that I found 2 great products that are working to restore my health.