COVID Vax'd and Blood Iron Dropped?
April 23, 2021 12:56 PM   Subscribe

I got my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on March 25 and my second shot on April 15. I've tried donating blood twice since my last shot and my iron is too low despite supplementation. Could it be the vaccine and my immune response?

I attempted to donate blood on April 17 and my iron was way low (in the 10s) even though I have been taking iron supplements weekly. I went back again today and my iron increased but was still too low (12.1) even though I was taking iron supplements everyday since last Saturday. I should be "fully vaccinated" by next Thursday so I'm thinking of giving it another go that next Saturday, but I'm curious if one good deed is cancelling out another.
posted by tafetta, darling! to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)
 
Not sure why it would be connected to iron, but iron supplements take awhile to have an effect - about a week isn't long enough to see an impact.
posted by coffeecat at 1:07 PM on April 23, 2021 [2 favorites]


That’s very low and if it can be brought up with oral supplementation (which it often can’t once it gets that low), you’re talking a matter of months, not days. At any rate you should forget about donating blood right now and make a doctor appointment to find out what’s going on. When mine is this low I’m prescribed IV infusions.
posted by HotToddy at 1:08 PM on April 23, 2021 [14 favorites]


If you are someone who menstruates, have you had an unusually heavy cycle recently? Researchers are looking at reports of heavy flow after vaccination, which can lower your iron/hemoglobin count. While this number can potentially vary a bit naturally based on cycles and diet, I'm heartily seconding HotToddy's comment that you should check in with your doctor to get ahead of any potential issues.
posted by mochapickle at 1:38 PM on April 23, 2021 [5 favorites]


Yeah, oral supplementation is challenging and a long process. Seconding to talk to your doc about IV infusion to get your iron back up to a healthy level.

Sort of tangential: Bacteria eat iron (they need it to build their electron transport chain) so low iron and also oral iron supplementation can do weird stuff to your gut health.

I doubt the mRNA vaccine process would affect your iron, but I'm not an immunologist and immunology is weird, so... dunno?
posted by cnidaria at 2:06 PM on April 23, 2021


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