Think I may be anaemic but MW refused to test...

[DangerMousey]

Had my 16 week appointment this morning with MW. Told her that I'd been feeling utterly exhausted, needing 3 hour naps every afternoon, real effort to drags self up the stairs to my flat etc....and said I was worried I was anaemic.

My mum was anaemic in all her PGs.

The MW was quite dismissive and said "your bloods were fine at your 8 week appt, they were 12.2, so I an guarantee you're not anaemic. Pregnancy just makes you tired."

But surely things could have changed in the 8 weeks that have passed since my early blood tests?

Would it be weird to go see my GP separately and ask for a blood test to check for anaemia??

Also after the leaving the MW I noticed she'd stuck my blood results from 8 weeks in the back of my notes and it quite clearly says:

"possible iron deficiency and/or alpha thalassaemia carrier. Iron status must be checked."

Has she just ignored the recommendations in the hospital blood results?!

oh, and although it's not an official line in the UK, milk can inhibit the absorption of iron.
so don't take it when you have cereal

Just to back up LemonEmma's post. Alpha -thalassaemia is a genetic condition which means that 1 or more of the alpha-globins in your haemoglobin are absent. The results can range from mild to severe depending how many of the alpha-globin genes are affected and as LemonEmma said, because its your haemoglobin thats affected, it can effect the size of your red blood cells and the results of any iron tests (cos they determine iron count via the volume of red blood cells amongst other things I think, and iron is present as part of the haemoglobin). I think it would only be a problem for your DC if your DP was also a carrier (the odds of this would be very low) but I reckon if they've red-flagged you as a potential carrier then they should be testing DP too!! Don't mean to worry you, if your DP isn't a carrier then worst case scenario would be that your DC was a carrier just like you (but you may not even pass on the defective gene, as you'll have one carrier copy and one normal copy). If DP is a carrier (very unlikely) then there's a chance your DC will have it but as I say, it ranges in severity so try not to panic. I would def enquire about it with your GP, it sound from your notes like they don't even know for certain if you are even a carrier or not - I'd be wanting them to retest.

P.S. - shocking behaviour from your midwife, she should definately be re-doing your blood work in case of anaemia, sounds like sheer laziness!

My MW was reluctant to test me for anaemia too - she said it was important not to take too much blood off pregnant women, that it can cause more problems than it solves. She recommended I start Spatone. It does take a few weeks to get iron levels back up so you need to persevere, but keep at it and hopefully you will see improvements - I was getting daily headaches at 24wks, started Spatone, headaches disappeared within a few days, and by my 28wk test my iron was fine.

Oh yes forgot to add, the MW didn't want to test me, even though the consultant had recommended it a few weeks before!

I would go and see your GP and change your midwife. In my area we only have one midwife at our practice but they come from a pool of midwives who visit the surgery on set days. I asked to change midwives after my midwife refused to agree that I had PGP and wouldn't refer me (I later ended up with correctional and ongoing physio and crutches because it was PGP) and who wrote lies in my notes about various things. My GP arranged for me to go to another surgery for the remainder of my pregnancy for midwife appointments. The new one was soooo much nicer.

My mum ended up being admitted to hospital when she was pregnant with me with extremely bad aememia so you need to get your GP to treat you properly.

Danger

You can see another midwife at another surgery - but still retain your current doctors.

This is what i am doing, I had major issues with my MW so now I am a tempory patient at my old surgery just for MW.

Personally i would rather a MW who was wanting to be on the safe side - it doesnt take much to take blood and send it off.

My iron was 12.6 at my booking appt (10 wks) and I was aneamic by 16 weeks, so you should definately have your bloods done, as the baby will keep taking more iron from your blood as the preg continues and you will end up feeling really terrible by the end if your iron is low. I felt sick, tired and breathless and had really restless legs; they did my bloods and my iron was 10.0 so I was put on tablets and felt much better within a few weeks.

They should have tested for thalessaemia at your booking appt - if it shows you might be a carrier, you need to query this with the mw/gp. If s/he is not helpful, ask for an appt with your consultant obstetrician.

What i have found during pregnancy is that you need to be quite assertive about getting appts, getting tests, gtting extra scans, bloods done etc if thats what you want xx

OP I would see your GP if you are worried. If you needed iron prescribed a doctor would need to do that anyway.

I fainted a couple of times at about 20 weeks and felt generally knackered and got told by the midwives to see GP. I did, was anaemic, got prescribed iron tabs and felt a lot better for it.

12.2 is not low at all, epsecially for a pregnant woman but you are right to still be worried. At my 16 week appointment the midwife I saw told me that my HG was similar to yours which was fine but my FERRITIN was TOO LOW. She said that that's the iron reserves in your bone marrow and other places which I don't remember and that I should ask my GP to prescribe iron for me. She actually gave me a box she had with her to take temporarily until I get the presciption!! She also said that the GP would normally (without her instruction) only check for HG levels and not ferritin so I would have to keep saying to him that I am very tired so he would do a ferritin blood test if I was not pregnant. She kept telling me that in that case I would have to keep going to the GP saying how tired I am so they would perform the test.

I think you should get your levels tested to give a baseline. It maybe that if you are they will monitor you lots. Plus the amount they need for testing is small and definitely won't add to the anaemia. Plus you're right spatone has a low iron level and if you are anaemic you should take stronger tablets but these give you side effects. Hope you feel better soon.

hello my stupid idiotic midwife forgot to do my bllods at 28 weeks or she was just too lazy as she rushed me thru ! i was sure i was anaemic i looked at the spatone in boots but it was £10 and annoys me that i work bloody hard to pay my national insurance when i should now be getting free prescriptions! my care this preganancy has been appalling .

Your midwife shoule have just done another blood test for you but i think they are just so overun trying to keep up with the demand of antenatal care there are jsut so many patients now a days the gp's surgeries just cannot fit everyone in.

I didn't pooh for days when first on iron tablets - and I wasn't even pregnant then. TMI......

If you take iron tablets with Vit C they absorb just fine (I alwasy glugged mine down with orange juice to be on the safe side). Same as if you eat iron rich food, mix vit C in and it helps absorb. So if you have a steak or spinach have it with lots of tomatoes. Of course liquid much nicer but not strong enough to do bugger all good if levels really low. Well thats what I found anyway. And that is what I was told by Doctor and pharmacist (who worked out the doses I would need).