Iron Pills...taking so much I'm basically an element on the periodic table

[auslass]

Just this really - my Iron levels are low. I'm 29wks + 3 and my iron levels are going down, despite taking so many iron supplements and eating a tonne of iron rich foods, it's doing my head in.

I'm having tummy troubles (constipation, feeling nauseated, having bad heartburn, low appetite - not sure if they're all related to Iron), but the NHS won't give me an infusion yet. How low does it need to go before they do?

Levels are 102, down from 105 4 weeks ago.

Any suggestions on what to do?

I take:

4 x Spatone first thing in the morning with juice on an empty stomach and wait an hour before eating
Take one slow release tablet with food at lunch as directed in the instructions
Avoiding tea and coffee
Eating iron rich food...

After all that I feel so full and awful that I can't eat dinner, if I do eat dinner, I feel so full and can't sleep, feeling full until around 4am!

Would welcome any suggestions MN has. Don't think I can handle much more iron....

Following, I've just been diagnosed with low iron and am feeling rubbish too

Is caffeine the reason to avoid tea and coffee or something else?

Caffeine affects you absorbing iron. They don't say you can't have it, they just say to avoid it and hour or so before and after taking iron. Given I'm taking it through the day, I just find it better not to have it.

I had a long old chat to my GP about anaemia not so long ago. You are just below the cut off for anemia in pregnancy - 105 is considered anaemic & 70 is considered severely anaemic (& the point I assume they’d consider a transfusion!). Mine have hovered around 85/90 since 16 weeks I take the highest dose iron tablets, eat iron rich foods daily.. I know to take the iron with vitamin c & to not take it with any dairy.. but nothing has budged it!

If it’s any comfort, my continued low iron in both my pregnancies hasn’t affected either babies. Both have grown normally! So this pregnancy, I’ve been a lot less worried about it. It’s just been annoying to deal with!

Have you asked to try different supplements? I took a prescribed liquid iron for a couple months when I would just vomit the tablets. That was much kinder on the stomach & less nausea inducing. I also find that I get on better with Ferrous Fumarate than Sulphate. I take a daily laxative called Laxido with my iron & it really helps with the digestive issues! And while probably not iron related, there is a safe heartburn med called omeprazole which you can take. A genuine lifesaver! I think once you resolve the digestive issues, you’ll hopefully find things improve!

My iron levels shot back up after I gave birth last time, I continued on the supplements for a month & I was back to good levels in that time! Little parasites these babies

Thanks, might have to give that some more thought. I'm not drinking loads but tend to have a coke see every day. I'd already switched to decaff tea at least.

@Bol87 the way they're talking its like I'm really low! They didn't even mention that I was close to the line.

I have a appt with my GP soon so will bring it up. For now I'm going to stop taking the tablets as they really affect me. The liquid iron is fine, but will ask about a prescription liquid type.

Only a trimester left! Bring on the due date.

Im low iron also.
You could try 1 iron tablet washed down with a spatone in the morning and the same at night before bed.

Have your midwife not prescribed you iron tablets? My levels were 100 at 28 weeks and I was prescribed 200mg to take twice a day to increase and they have worked as its stronger than the ones you buy your self x

Not until this week when finally got a letter in the post to take to my GP yesterday, saying to prescribe me Iron. Going on Monday, hoping for liquid iron as that's about all I can tolerate. But the MW's were just saying to take more of whatever I had.

Can you eat a little liver?

Hi, Vit C helps the absorption of iron. Maybe try orange juice with your meal.

@Eloisedublin123 you shouldn’t eat liver in pregnancy as there’s too much vitamin A

PP is right OP, your levels aren’t low enough to consider transfusion, but there are much stronger iron formulations for you to try (around 200mg three times a day is a normal dose for a deficiency). Ferrous fumarate tends to be better tolerated and it has fewer gastro side effects

Definitely take laxatives alongside your supplements!

Wow. I've never had haemoglobin over 100. I ended up with haemoglobin of 54 (or 5.4 depending on how you measure it) & had to have multiple blood transfusions. Even now my levels hover around 95. I can't imagine feeling bad with haemoglobin of 105! That's more or less the bottom end of normal!

Just here to admire the thread title tbh

@ScarlettBlaize the way the midwife was talking it was low; but I had no basis of comparison. They were saying at 105 to double my dosage of the iron tablets I was taking (not prescription), then when I got the 102 reading last week they said to add 4 spatones in the morning, and take two tablets. Which I was I thought it must be a real issue.

Did they give you a iron infusion? 54 sounds pretty low!

@auslass

Did they give you a iron infusion? 54 sounds pretty low!

Transfusion rather than infusion: I was admitted to hospital as an emergency, and had four units of blood transfused. That brought my haemoglobin up to around 95.

The transfusion took about 11 hours, and they physically couldn't give me any more than that in one go.

Yours is barely below the cut off for normal in pregnancy, and I'd be really surprised if you are actually symptomatic at that level.

Spatone is very gentle iron really, and it takes a few weeks to build up levels anyway.

My pregnant levels were around 80 and I felt pretty shitty. 1 year after birth and I'm on 111, and this is a good level for me. I think, (and I say this with no medical knowledge, just as someone who has 3 kids under 5 so has basically been on iron for 5 years) that the RDA of Iron is 14mg a day. A spa tone sachet has 5mg. So 4 sachets is barely over the recommended amount. The GP will prescribe ferrous fumerate/sulphate which is 220mg. So it's MASSIVELY stronger than spa tone. I was on 2 tablets a day - so 440mg of iron a day. And it still look over a month to bring my levels to over 100. You need to be able to take the tablets, it's the only thing that will work. Get them to prescribe some movicol or lactulose too for constipation.

Is the concern about the baby’s growth, then? I assumed it was to do with potential blood loss during birth.

I’m also in this situation - iron levels are 104 and low ferritin(?) level too. I was told to buy the 200mg sulphate and take twice a day but I lasted just a week on half that dose! The constipation is just awful, and I had a prolapse after my last full term pregnancy so am more keen to avoid seeing that return than anything else.

Now I know the recommended dosage, the Ferroglobin tablets I was taking before seem too puny to make a dent! Don’t know what to do now...

but the NHS won't give me an infusion yet.

iron infusion/injection can have pretty nasty side effects. plus it has to be administered in hospital therefore costs a bomb and a half.
you are really better of taking prescription tablets and through a good diet.

good luck!

I took my iron overnight with OJ.

I was pretty much guaranteed to be up at some point for a wee so took them during the night which ensured I was taking them on an empty stomach.

The doctor laughed at my floradix tablets and prescribed me some proper iron tablets. My levels were around the same as yours but I felt rough as they had been about 140 pre pregnancy so the drop made me feel rubbish.

Thanks for the replies!

The baby's growth is perfect, in fact she has longer than average legs. Lucky little so and so.

So I guess they're just being overly cautious? Will speak to the GP on Monday and hopefully can sort it. I have 10 weeks to get it to where it needs to be before the due date.

So sick of pills!

I'm also taking half an asprin to manage preeclampsia risk, and calcium, and the iron. Not all at the same time, I know that would cause absorption issues all around.

Great tip re taking them in the middle of the night, I'm always awake! Great practice for a newborn!

tablets should ideally always be taken upright, i.e. staying upright for half an hour after taking them.
I would be cautious about taking them in the night.

I take my iron in the evening, 2 hours or more after dinner before getting ready for bed to 'sleep through' the worst of the side effects. a spoon of crushed linseed in yoghurt in the mornings helps on the other end...

Have you tried taking your iron tablets along with vitamin c?

Those levels aren't that low. They are likely due to the dilutions effects of having extra blood volume in pregnancy. Your symptoms are unlikely to be caused by that haemoglobin, but rather pregnancy itself. Relax, take it easy on all the supplements, and follow the advice of your GP and you will be fine.

If you GP was worried about your iron they would prescribe you proper supplements, there is next to nothing in spatone - you may as well just take a multivitamin.

Thanks @TwistinMyMelon It was the midwives who told me to up all the doses of what I'm taking, and randomly I got a letter saying to see my GP for prescription iron this week, so will go see him and can hopefully nix the rest!