I overdosed taking iron suppliments. Should I be scared that I caused liver damage?
Taking 4 iron pills a day instead of 3 will NOT lead to iron toxicity. A assume you are taking Ferrous Sulfate, which contains 65 mg of elemental iron. Therefore you are only ingesting 260 mg of elemental iron daily. The toxic dose of iron is 20-60 mg/kg (1400- 4200 mg if you were 70 kg) and you are not even close to this. Also keep in mind that not all of the iron in the pill is actually absorbed into the body. You are unlikely to get any more benefit by taking the additional dose and you are only putting your risk for side effects. Constipation can become a big problem the more frequently iron is administered. If you start having problems with nausea, constipation or other stomach problems then you should let your doctor know. I usually start Iron once daily for most of my patients and if they are able to tolerate this I will slowly increase the dose to twice daily and eventually three times daily. I have started patients on three times daily when they were severely iron deficient. I
