Anaemia help

[Continuum]

I'm 30 weeks.

A while back my hospital blood test results showed I was anaemic according to the midwife, though it was borderline according to the internet. The main thing was 12.6 but the one that was size of blood cells was too small and so I had another test through the doctor and the size thing was smaller and I'd dropped down to 11. The hospital recommended iron tablets 3x a day, the doctor said she didn't think I should have any, it should just be monitored but she would prescribe 2x a day because of what the hospital said.

I don't know the numbers on my next blood test but the letter said I was anaemic (I assume as oppose to borderline) and to pick up a repeat prescription that was exactly the same. I decided to take the 3x a day as suggested by the hospital. Two weeks after that I had routine bloods taken and a week later I got a letter from the doctor saying I was no longer anaemic and could stop the tablets.

That was a week ago so I stopped them, but after finally feeling good on 3 tablets and not like I could fall asleep every minute I am now slipping back to that. Could be anything of course, I am no expert!!

I just don't see how I can suddenly not be anaemic after 2 weeks, I thought it took longer.

If you were borderline anaemic and you had no other underlying problems, they can fluctuate quite easily. Also, the 'line' can be different depending on who is taking the reading/reading the results and what test they did (whether it was blood iron levels or iron stores)

As someone who became very anaemic in pregnancy, I would tell you to keep taking the iron. Pregnancy can cause your iron levels to drop quite quickly, and it's hard to build up iron stores if they become depleted while pregnant as there are so many demands for it and you can only absorb so much at a time. I also had a midwife who told me not to bother taking them as I was borderline - she said to just eat more - and my iron levels dropped like a stone and didn't come back until after the baby was born. Low iron levels can cause problems during and after the birth as well which is part of the reason why they monitor it.

Thanks for that :)

I would definitely keep taking them. Iron in pregnancy can only help (if you don't suffer from the massive constipation side effect).

If you can, try Spatone. - it's a liquid iron supplement and less bad for your digestion. But it's fairly expensive - about £8 for a month or double if you take a double dose.

Agree with the others keep with the tablets or switch to spatone With DS1 I anaemic so took the 3/day tablet dose was ok on it but poos went a bit odd . With DS2 I could see that the blood results were dropping from a healthy result at the start of the pregnancy down towards borderline. I was also feeling very tired. With my mw's agreement I bought spatone myself and took that for the rest of the pregnancy. Also try to eat iron rich foods with vit c rich foods e.g. Dried apricots with a glass of orange juice. The body finds iron difficult to absorb but the vit c aides the absorption process.

I agree with the other posters that once you have had a problem identified, you need to keep a sharp eye on it to make sure it doesnt drop again, its not something you can just forget about, so take some more tablets (maybe reduce the dose?) if you feel tired. Also bear in mind that coffee and tea reduce your body's ability to absorb iron, so cut them out or at least dont drink at the same time as eating. Also take some more folic acid tablets as this aids making new blood cells too, and helps iron to be absorbed.