Iron Deficient in Pregnancy

[leonaaa]

28 weeks pregnant - had 3 lots of bloods taken yesterday - fainted on my poor midwife - bloods came back today showing I am iron deficient.

Not overly worried about low birth weight as my baby is a naturally big baby - weight currently 3lbs 2oz at scan on Tuesday - predicted to be 9lbs at full term.

Prescribed meds - another growth scan & more bloods in 3 weeks to see the difference of meds.

Any advice?
Any experience with iron deficiency during pregnancy?
Were your babies born prematurely?
Did you stabilise your iron levels with diet changes and meds?

Hey I had to be put on iron tablets with my 1st pregnancy... pregnancy went well I had baby 9 days early but nothing to say that it was connected.. I was very stressed the day I went into labour so I put it down to that or the fact he didn't want to wait any longer to come lol. They never mentioned changing my diet with myself the tablets did the job x

changing diet can take longer and also depends on what your current diet is - I had quite a good iron diet eg red meat/dark green vegbut still lowish...
I used Spatone sachets with orange juice and worked a treat - iron tablets are cheaper but irritated my stomach/bowels a bit!

I’ve started taking Blue Iron for pregnancy. It’s really easy on the tummy and I started noticing the positive effects after a couple of days. It also doesn’t make you constipated. If you’re not keen on taking the prescribed iron tablets, worth giving it (or an equivalent) a try along with an iron rich diet. I always make sure to have lots of vitamin C rich food/drinks along with my iron-rich food to aid absorption. I’m 26 weeks so a little behind you, but before I had the supplement I felt rubbish every day and had to nap in the afternoon as I couldn’t get to the evening without it. I feel fine now and have zero need for naps. The hospital midwife said as long as it’s working, crack on.

I’ve been severely anaemic both times. Felt awful, heart racing, out of breath walking the stairs at home, bone tired, beyond exhausted. Just felt really poorly.

First pregnancy I was diagnosed at 26 weeks & took ferrous furmate for 6 weeks at which point my iron was up enough to swap to SpaTone (gentle iron supplement) & diet management (ate a lot of stew & spag bol). I can’t tell you how much better I felt after 6 weeks. My 3rd trimester was my best one, I had energy, wasn’t sick .. it was good!

This pregnancy, I was diagnosed at 8 weeks 😩 due to HG, the tablets all made me vomit so they stopped me taking them for a while. I’m now on a liquid iron called Galfer. Seemingly I’m tolerating it OK. Hopeful it’ll have a similar affect after a few weeks as I feel poop.

Def try the tablets, not everyone reacts to them badly! I was totally fine first pregnancy bar some constipation (docs can prescribe you laxido to help). Take them with orange juice to help absorption and avoid tea, any-acids & diary for an hour before/after taking! These stops absorption. Hopefully a decent whack of iron will quickly raise those levels! It’s better to get them up in case of bleeding during birth. If you are anaemic & bleed badly, it can lead to transfusions.

Can I ask how long after getting the bloods taken you all found out? I passed out yesterday getting my booking bloods then had a massive panic attack when I realised what happened. I'm also suffering with HG everything exhausts me im really struggling and only 9 weeks

Bloods come back really quickly @sao81 - when my GP requests them, they are back within 24 hours. Not sure if the GP can easily see the booking notes though.. mine appear to work on different systems! Could be worth ringing your GP and/or midwife early next week 😊

@sao81 - I had my blood test 10.30am on Thursday 24th and my gp surgery rang with the results 11.30am today (Friday 25th)
Call Monday afternoon if they've not gotten back to you. It may be that there's nothing to report if you've not heard so try not to panic over the weekend

@Bol87
Thank you so much - that's helpful

Thank you to you all

I had slight anaemia in pregnancy, then an operation in which I lost a fair bit of blood, then quite bad anaemia!

Lots of iron pills, felt exhausted, constipated from iron pills, piles from constipation, but no harm whatsoever to the baby who was born a few days late, 7lb11.

I saw an acupuncturist for a while who suggested floradix- it's working ok for me, certainly not causing stomach upsets

@Bol87 @leonaaa thank you. My GP aren't the best with results usually take about a week before we hear anything usually. Will get in touch with midwife/reception on Monday to chase them