Iron deficiency anaemia

[Smerlin]

Hi all

I was diagnosed with iron deficiency during my 28 wk round of blood tests and prescribed Ferrograd iron tablets. Doctor said my iron level was 10.9g and the threshold you should stay above is 11g so literally only just under.

The thing is the tablets make me so ill! I had to take iron tablets as a teen and struggled with them then. This time I took one tablet as directed (empty stomach with orange juice) and had an upset stomach for two days!

Has anyone managed to treat anaemia with diet alone? I like all the iron-rich foods so couldn't I just eat a lot more of them?

Seeing midwife next week and probably won't be able to get an appt with doctor before then anyway so worried about what to do in the meantime!

I had aneamia in my first pregnancy and expecting it with this one (24 weeks). The iron tablets made me very ill, they are horrendously hard on the stomach. I can't swallow tablets either so I got them to change the prescription to the liquid form which isn't as harsh and I didn't bother with the empty stomach thing. Tastes of chocolate mint (but not in a good way) but this time they are making a note if I am anaemic to have that instead of the tablets so maybe try that? X

In the meantime try not to worry too much I had to wait for appointment and everything was fine x

I was prescribed two different types of iron after ds was born the first was fine, the second was horrible, might be worth popping into pharmacy and getting some info before calling doctors surgery for a different prescription?

Forgot to add try spatone(?) supplement, can buy off the shelf from boots x

I made the stupid mistake of googling effects of low iron on the baby and it was all super negative so am worried that I should have it sorted already!

The thing is the iron tablets have over 100mg of iron in them and the RDA is only 14mg- do I really need 7x the normal amount of iron for being 0.1g under on my blood test?! As I think it is impossible to eat that much iron!

I took the spatone, didn't bother with the tablets from the doctors, look up spatone on the internet, they are liquid form and much easier to absorb, although they taste foul, they don't give you the side effects that the tablets do. You can get them from Sainsburys chemist, boots and other pharmacys.

Try upping your vit c as this increases your iron absorption naturally. The tablets - it is basically Iron sulphate, or ferrous sulphate. It can take your body a while to get used to them - it took me a couple of weeks, but i had severe MS anyway so couldn't tell if iron affected that or not! TBH they can give you easier solutions for your body to handle than what you have been prescribed. I also think you could up your iron in your diet before taking meds which make you feel rough?! You are basically at the right level anyway? Please DO NOT worry about iron and baby - baby will take what they need from you, and you get what is left over, which can make you feel like death warmed up!!

See I was thinking maybe if I combine something like the Spatone you have all recommended with a fortified cereal for breakfast, wholemeal bread for lunch and meat/fish for dinner then I would end up with a fair amount over the RDA but not so much it makes me ill! (Plus lots of juice and fruit!)

As I am feeling well for once (as well as I imagine one can feel in the 3rd trimester!), I don't want to ruin things by sending my digestion haywire with these tablets- I have IBS anyway so already have a sensitive digestion!

I've taken Ferrograd before and they can be a bit tough at first....

I couldn't manage them on an empty stomach either so had them with a meal (just don't have them with dairy products, as it counteracts absorbtion apparently.) My advice would be to stick with it for a few days and see if it improves. I found after about a fortnight my body got used to them and they didn't bother me anymore. If you can persevere it's worth it, they made a dramatic difference to my levels in the space of 3 months and I felt better than I had in years....

I'm taking ferrous sulphate 210mg x 2 a day. My iron level was at 10.4 and is now 10.9 and I have been taking it since week 12. It takes a lot of work to build up your iron, but if your levels drop more which is likely, you'll really feel like crap, and its will be harder to raise the levl IYSWIM.

You could try the spatone though - its a lot easier on the stomach.

*level

You need tons of iron to get through the pregnancy increase in blood volume, and to get through the blood-loss of birth, AND you have to stock up your baby's suppply for their first six months of life...

I would speak to your MW as there are many different types of iron supplementation including different forms of iron and solutions vs pills etc. Call them and tell them you can't take the one you've got... they will be able to offer alternatives (but food is unlikely to be enough I'm afraid).

Sorry, should have said, it's unlikely to be the AMOUNT of iron making you ill - it'll be the FORM that it's in.

How many weeks are you now lucybrad ? Just trying to work out how long it's taken you to climb 0.5...

So no point asking for a lower dosage then, just need to get a liquid version rather than tablet but still on prescription so it's high dosage?

Not everyone absorbs iron well. You need to completely avoid tannins (so no tea or coffee, even decaff) and have vit c with iron rich foods. I've had the same ongoing problem even though I eat a lot of iron rich foods.

It sounds like you need an iron supplement, but try one of the others as suggested above.I think I took something called Ferroglobin, which was fine.

I've been anaemic since mid-pregnancy and DD is 8 months old now! I found Spatone to be great during pregnancy but it doesn't cut it now so can't be quite as good as the tablets. (At the moment I feel fine when taking the tablets but start feeling really worn out a week or so after each prescription runs out and I switch to Spatone, so head back to the GP for more tablets).

The messed my stomach up for a few days but I seemed to get used to them after that. Do try taking it with a meal if you can't take it on an empty stomach, but make sure you don't take it with tannin (also includes grapes / grape juice) or dairy products. Even a couple of digestive biscuits eaten at the same time you take the tablet could be enough to stop it irritating your stomach.