Breathless at 25 weeks - is this normal?

[MuffinMclay]

Can't remember from last time.

It is annoying during the day, but nothing more. At night it gets really bad, and is keeping me awake.

Ooh! I had that! Had low-ish blood pressure and was anaemic. Think the anaemia was the main thing.

At night I used Vicks rub and put a rolled towel under my pillow, just to keep the tubes open (helped a bit).

It's pretty normal - your blood volume has increased but the number of red blood cells hasn't caught up. This means you have to breathe faster to get the oxygen around your body.

I was pretty breathless throughout whole pregnancy, very annoying . I think as long as you're not anaemic it's nothing to worry about..just check that in your next blood test.

it will be anaemia

There's a good chance. It's too early for it to be the baby pushing up and restricting space in the chest.

In my first pregnancy, my GP diagnosed anaemia based on breathlessness alone.

I'm not anaemic but have been suffering breathlessness too. They docs just say that it is my body's way of dealing with pumping the extra blood round my body.

Thanks everyone. I'm seeing mw on Friday, so I'll raise it with her. What does one do for anaemia (if it is that) - iron tablets, eat a lot of red meat?

I'll try Vicks to see if that helps at night.

If you have anaemia, you have to increase your iron. The most effective way is to have an iron rich diet, assuming that you are OK eating-wise. This can mean lots of red meat, beans, and dark leafy vegetables. Spinach is good. Chilli con Carne is excellent. Vitamin C helps you absorb dietary iron, so plenty of orange juice.

You can also use iron pills if you have problems with eating, but they are not as well absorbed, and some of them have side effects of either slowing down or speeding up the digestive system. The good thing is that you can experiment with the different brands to find one that suits. If they give you the relief from breathlessness and tiredness then you will be motivated to overlook any sideeffects. I had a lot of success with Fefol Spansule (Iron and folic acid), and I've heard that Fluradix (sp) is also very good - that one is a citrussy liquid so easily digested.