Edited due to public misunderstanding!

@Impunity, that comment is not fair to our senior wazua lady.

The @impunity I saw and what he scribbles here are totally incompatible

Inasaidia kuongeza madini ya iron na folic acid ambayo hutumika sana katika kutengeneza damu, hutumika katika hali ya upungufu wa damu mwilini.Haswa kwa akina mama ambao ni wajawazito ama wakiwa katika hedhi

(that i heard, am no Doc)

@impunity, umeongea mbaya. that was in very bad taste.

@kysse, kwanza pole zangu. I presume you're a socket , right? A Hb level of 7 is recipe for disaster my dear especially for a female (what with the usual biological processes, you know what I mean ) and you're lucky your doc didn't admit you. Seriously, Hb of 7 and below us considered anemia and is recipe for admission and subsequent blood transfusion.

According to some research done locally, a significant no. of our female sisters/mothers/significant others are walking around in an anemic or pre-anemic state unknowingly. So it is a good thing you actually took the initiative to have the test done.

Without dwelling too much on the signs to look out for, most common ones include general lethargy and a feeling of 'tiredness' on exertion, so that one will constantly feel breathless and tired after a shirt flight of stairs (going up, not down ), after a brisk walk or light jogging. For a child experiencing this, they may tend to withdraw from playtime which doesn't augur well for their normal bone, muscle as well as social skills development. Obviously, we all are aware that it is Hb that carries the oxygen in blood required to oxygenate our tissues, so kama Hb haitoshi basi hata oxygen owes tosha. If untreated over a long period if time, then chronic anemia may eventually lead to cardiac ailment.

There are a variety of causes of anemia which I'll not necessarily dwell on. In an otherwise healthy individual, most common causes may be due to poor diet as well as bleeding (e.g after an injury/accident, or a bleeding gastric/duodenal ulcer) as well as biological (sockets), chronic alcoholism mainly because it is associated with poor nutrition, and pregnancy (due to increased demands).

Having established that what you're suffering from is iron-deficiency anemia, this explains the logic behind your doctor prescribing iron supplements of which ranferon and saferon are just but some of the brands in the market. Usually the problem with iron is that it is quite unpalatable, hence the metallic taste you've do aptly described. To improve in this, several formulations exist in the market to both mask the taste as well as improve absorption once ingested. If you're going to buy iron supplements, look for those that have ferrous fumarate or some 'carbonyl-iron' molecule as they have better palatability and yield more iron. For this reason, if you can't stomach whatever you were given, I'd advise you to go for Zeefee syrup, it's packaged in a red/white box with a bottle shaped 'kama ya mzinga'. A 200ml bottle should cost in the region of 320-360 bob and will give you faster results than some of the competing brands. Take 10mls thrice daily.

It's important to note that citric acid improves iron absorption, hence if you have access to your citrus fruits, the better. There are some other formulations that contain ferrous citrate for that very reason. Also note that most of these formulations, in addition to the ferrous component, may also contain folate/folic acid as well as vitamin B12/cyanocobalamin. Reason is all these molecules are synergistic in so far as hemoglobin synthesis is concerned so they therefore are beneficial. By the time your body begins to exhibit iron deficiency, chances are very high that there are varying levels of deficiency if the other two too.

That said, supplements are not for the long term. We need to look at your diet for that purpose. Need I emphasize on the iron-rich foods? Off the too of my head, liver and kidney (hizi kama hujui kupika hata afadhali uitishe recipe, I'll gladly give it), spinach, boiled lentils, chicken and beans. Include those in your diet.

Lastly, ensure you deworm regularly (every 3months). Those little guys can cause anemia, not by sucking your blood but by nibbling on your body reserves of folate.

Oh, and the dark stool coloration is because of iron excreted, either because you took too much or your body being unable to absorb it perhaps due to the formulation it is in, etc. I should perhaps emphasize here that you should not take your iron supplements within 2-3hrs of taking milk or antacids. The cations in them (calcium, magnesium, aluminium, etc) will chelate with the ferrous/ferric ions and render it useless.

Take a look at these websites ujionee:

webMD

McKinley

Admittedly, I'm a bit distracted as I type this but I do hope I'm coherent enough. In case anything is unclear, feel free to query. Ugua pole.