This may be a bit wordy but bear with me, please.
During my first pregnancy I became severely anaemic and narrowly avoided an iron transfusion. I have been anaemic since my early teens and many many investigations have been done into it. However because of my ethnic background (indian) the drs insisted I be tested for thalassemia. This as unnecessary as a) my family were tested after my DSil became pregnant 3 years ago to rule it out and b) as a teen I lived in Birmingham in an area with a high ethnic population where testing for it is pretty routine and was done as soon as I became anaemic. Incidentally, I was tested for thalassemia beta during the pg and it came back negative.
I'm now 29weeks into my second pregnancy and the Drs/midwives are refusing to prescribe the iron tablets I need because they think I might have thalassemia. (Completely disregarding the fact I have a healthy 2 year old, that I was tested and it came back negative for one variant and my partner is white/Irish). They cannot prescribe iron as it might cause iron overloading if I have thalassemia.
I consented to testing at 12 weeks as the palaver during my first pregnancy was simply not worth it.
The results were lost and repeated. But my iron was ok if at the low end of the range.
The consultant I saw insisted my partner be tested, which he was, unsurprisingly it came back negative.
I had another test done 3 months ago for alpha thalassemia, results still not given despite me calling in frequently to get them.
Meanwhile, the anaemia I know myself to actually have has remained untreated for months. I feel like shit and I am actually hating being pregnant. I can barely get out of bed most days, I have missed time off college and have had to push my deadlines back and stop taking driving lessons. I feel like the worst mum to my toddler.
I am so angry that for the sake of a condition I probably don't have, I am not being treated for the condition I have always had. I feel like I'm not being listened to at all and am purely getting this testing done to tick a box.
I don't know if I have grounds to complain but it feels good to write it down and rant a little. Thanks for getting to the end of this.
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do i have grounds for complaint or am i at least justified in being pissed off?
34 replies
enormouse · 07/11/2013 11:31
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