Something better than iron tablets?

[hopingforanother]

Hi - I'm 28+5 and got my iron level back as 10. Midwife has given me Ferrous Sulphate 200mg tablets and told me to take 1 a day.

Any alternatives? To be honest, my diet hasn't included as much meat or as many vegetables as it should in the last few weeks so I'll get some brocolli down me anyway but is there an alternatve to the tablets I can take?

Don't want to risk getting bunged up so to speak as I've already had patches of constipation this preg and don't want it back!

Thanks!

spatone. cheapest from amazon. no constipation. might not work if you are very anaemic though

yy spatone is very good.

TBH stick to the iron tablets and take lots of Lactulose.
I went down to 8.4 and had been taking spatone. Its good to maintain a healthy iron level but not gret at replacing a low iron level.
I managed to get mine up by taking lots of ferrous fumerate, eating sardines, cereal fortified with iron, dried apricots, cabbage

Ooh an array of suggestions! Thanks everyone!

Is 10 particularly low? I thought it should be about 11, though not sure where I got that from. If it isn't that low then I might try Spatone....

a female HB should be 12.5 and over.
The 'safe' limit they allow for most ML units and homebirths is 10.

I have chronis anaemia and 10 is where I normally am. And I only got up to 10.8 in pregnancy due to bloody hard work. Last result was 11.1

I used 'floradix' liquid (although think you can get it in tablet too) from health food shop. I get dodgy stomach really easily from iron med, but this is OK with me. It comes from concentrated fruit/veg high in iron.

I liked the Spatone liquid iron (after a large blood loss at birth). If you mix it with citrus juice (vit. C helps with iron absorption), you can't even tell it's there. And because they're liquid, from a completely natural source all that iron is more likely to actually be used by your body instead of just 'passing through' .

Oh, and I recall that if you drink a glass of orange juice about the time/just before you take iron medicine the iron is absorbed in the body easier (vitamin C aids iron absorbion)

I've taken the liquid form of Floradix for low iron levels, as well. It's made with lots of natural fruit juices/extracts, so constipation isn't a problem. I think they may even have a special formula available for pregnant women.

I don't know if there's a special pregnant floradix edeluna, but mine says on it it's suitable for pregnant woman (I use the liquid iron gluten free one as I can't have gluten)

hopingforanother I'd try and find some information about the amount of elemental iron in the liquid iron preparations versus the ferrous sulphate you've been prescribed

I take 3 x 200mg ferrous sulphate tablets which is about 130mg elemental iron. Liquid preparations, like Spatone only have about 5mg elemental iron. Liquid iron is probably absorbed better but only by about maximum factor of 4 so things like Spatone won't increase your iron levels anywhere near as effectively as even one ferrous sulphate tablet.

Ah, ok. I must just be remebering that the bottle said it was suitable for pregnant women. It's been a while since I took it. Thanks for clarifying, angels1.

Do iron tablets bung everyone up? Because they had the opposite effect on me - gave me the runs!

Thanks all - I think I'll try the tablets and see what happens! tyler80 thanks this is a helpful thought

If you do have problems with getting bunged up, prune juice can help with that and is also a very good source of iron.

Why don't you try eating meat? It is the best source of iron around. If you have it with a glass of orange juice the vit C helps absorb the iron. Dried fruit and things like muesli are also not bad. This is if you would like to try and get your vits through diet alone which I am a strong believer in.

"This is if you would like to try and get your vits through diet alone"

No offence, but I think this is verging on dangerous advice for someone who has a haemoglobin level of 10. If you are already deficient in iron, it is very difficult to increase your levels through diet alone and during pregnancy it's especially important to increase the levels as quickly as possible.

Often the issue for women with low iron levels is not how much iron you ingest but your ability to absorb it. Iron supplements are formulated to be absorbed more easily (and the glass of orange juice thing works as well)

OP- Ferrous sulphate can be quite harsh on the stomach- it's the first line iron supplement prescribed because it's the cheapest. I have been prescribed chewable Iron (III) Hydroxide which contain 100mg iron(Ferrum Hausmann- prescription only)

This is the only thing I've found to get my iron levels up and keep them up, even though I eat an iron rich diet.

I usually have a pretty good, varied diet with lots of fruit, veg, meat etc, but this preg, I just haven't fancied much different stuff - clearly to the detriment of my iron levels!

I've started on the iron tablets as I think with the best will in the world I couldn't ingest enough iron rich foods in the next 10 or so weeks to get things back in proportion, but yes - it has higlighted the requirement for less bread and more other stuff!

BaggedandTagged at chewable iron - clearly these are chewy tablet things but I just had an image of a pregnant woman gnawing on some kind of iron girder!!!

I would take spatone and floravital together. Eat lots of apricots, eggs, drink nettle tea. Take the iron with fruit juice. 10 isn't really low but you don't want it to go any lower, especially as labour (loss of blood) is not far off! Having a new born and suffering from aneamia is not nice!

I've been prescribed Ferrous Gluconate because Ferrous Sulphate makes me ill. I've had no problems with constipation so far and I've even got IBS.

As long as you drink plenty of water you shouldn't get bunged up.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I gave the Ferrous Sulphate tablets a go and despite my fears, I'm feeling perkier than last week and my digestive system is still quite happy, if anything- happier!!! Looks like I was worrying about nothing

I have low iron in general and it drops in pregnancy. I have found the flordix and spatone did nothing for my iron levels and I now get prescribed 'Stryon' red liquid iron medicine which does the trick my iron levels were low and are now up to normal for pregnancy levels

dont drink tea with meals, it stops you absorbing iron. (no idea why but NHS website confirms this.)