can taking multi vitamin tablets with iron in cause the same symptoms as hayfever ?

[heretohelp]

I stopped taking my multi vitamin/iron tablets (one a day) a while back because i thought they were making my hayfever worse.It cleared up & this week after a couple of months i started taking them again but gradually throughout the week my hayfever or the symptoms anyway started to gradually return until i felt really bad could not stop sneezing im better today having not had one.I was wondering can an increased iron level in my blood cause these symptoms if im sensitive to it-many thanks

[Sqad]

I have never known increased iron in the blood to account for your symptoms, in fact an overloaded blood with iron is extremely uncommon.

I have never know anyone to be allergic or hypersensitive to iron.

[heretohelp]

Thanks for that it must just be my hayfever again,i didn't think it was because of the tablets but im going to leave off them for now & then try it in couple of weeks see what happens then

[boxtops]

Heretohelp, there have been high pollen levels for a lot of this year, my own allergic rhinitis has been bad all year (and I tend to be on meds from March until October). I suspect that it's nothing to do with your vitamins (which I also take), more the fluctuating levels in the air.

[theprof]

I doubt it very much. There are accounts in the medical literature of rashes and other cutaneous symptoms arising during iron therapy but even in these cases, the dosage was far higher than found in multivitamin preparations. I can't find any recorded instance of iron making hayfever worse.

In my opinion, it's far more likely that you may have an allergy or hypersensitivity to another substance contained in the multivitamin preparation. Don't forget that you not only need to look at the therapeutic ingredients listed on the back of the box or container but also the excipients (the pharmacologically inert substances used to bind the ingredients of the multivitamin tablet together) such as various emulsifiers, lactose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose etc. These substances and others that might be in the tablet are known to cause allergies.

I appreciate that discovering exactly what you're allergic to in these tablets is a daunting task so I've got a few suggestions to make.

Firstly, try taking the multivitamin preparation every three days for a fortnight and see if it still makes the hayfever worse. Secondly, change the iron-containing preparation for one that is iron free - many branded multivitamin preparations nowadays come in both versions. Thirdly, try taking an alternative brand of multivitamin tablets, with or without iron and see if that makes a difference.

These steps should give you an idea if it is truly iron that's making your hayfever worse.

[heretohelp]

Thanks to you all of for your answers ile try some of the suggestions