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Iron deficiency addressed with iron-repletion protocol minus the alcohol. Should we add in liver support?

Chris Kresser:  Yeah, definitely no alcohol here. I don’t really recommend alcohol as a main strategy for repleting iron. It’s fine if the patient already consumes alcohol occasionally, but I don’t prescribe alcohol as part of that protocol.

I would start with what you have and see how he does. And then if there are signs of impaired liver detox like skin and stuff and smelly sweat, and difficulty with elimination, his difficulty is too often but maybe particularly foul-smelling stools or something like that, then you could consider liver support. But you don’t want to overwhelm patients like this. It’s tempting to go crazy with supplements because there’s so much going on, and in my experience people who have this much going on need a relatively simplified approach. Mostly focus on diet with a few targeted supplements to really help them get back into the swing of things, and then once they’re able to digest and absorb better, you can actually start using more supplements. But they’re not going to be able to absorb much of what you’re giving them when they’re in a severe flare.

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