With iron-deficiency anemia, how long do you recommend supplementing before retesting?

Dr. Amy Nett:  It depends on the severity. I normally like to supplement for about three to four weeks and then repeat the test especially if it’s in a patient with like severe iron deficiency and maybe they’re having like a UC flare or something where I know they might have ongoing bleeding and I want to be more aggressive. I’m probably going to ask them to follow up anywhere from three weeks is probably the shortest I’ve done sometimes going out to six weeks. Some of this is patient compliance too. People just don’t always like doing follow-up. So I would say ballpark four to six weeks and then if I make adjustments I may or may not have them go another six to eight weeks. And then once you get them on a maintenance dose, I might follow up in eight to ten weeks just to make sure that that dose is okay and we don’t need to do further adjustment. But  ballpark four to eight weeks depending on the acuity and/or if it’s just a maintenance.