Are there any iron supplements that are safe in pregnancy that don't cause constipation

[Afternoonteaandicecream]

Hi all, was wondering if anyone will be able to help me. I'm 32 weeks pregnant and my latest bloods have shown I am slightly anaemic. Unfortunately I am already very constipated and am taking Fybogel twice a day, 20ml of lactulose twice a day and senna (ok'd by gp) once a day. When I am not pregnant I usually have to take 15ml of lactulose twice daily and Fybogel once daily to keep me going - this has been a health problem for me since young childhood no matter what I try with my diet - I eat lots of fruit and veg etc. I spoke to the pharmacist at my gp surgery and she said they only do one type of iron there which is the pregnacare with folic acid and I know from taking this in my previous pregnancy that it made me really bunged up. Is there an alternative that is safe and won't cause constipation to get even worse. I have ended up in a and e twice before ( when not pregnant) due to becoming totally blocked up and am wary about this happening again.

Sorry about the long post

Mum mum took a liquid iron supplement called Spatone when her iron was low during chemo, as she didn't get along with the iron tablets at all. I'm not sure of its strength, but I know it didn't cause her any problems.

Sorry, my mum

I took vitabiotics feroglobin capsules gentle iron, got them at boots. Wasnt pregnant when I took them but they include folic acid and vitamin b12 too. Doesn't say anything on the box about being unsafe in pregnancy

Spatone is great

Just checked it says suitable during pregnancy and they are capsules that allow a slow gradual release to prevent excess iron in the stomach. So should hopefully help with constipation

Floradix.

Thank you all so much for your replies, good to know there's some potential alternatives out there for me to try. Will head down to boots in the next few days for a look 😊

Ferrous Sulfate from GP worked very well for me- didn't cause any constipation at all and worked wonders in raising my iron levels. (Had tried floradix and spatone and they weren't effective enough)

I had horrific pregnancy constipation and Spatone didn't give me any issues. You have 2 packs a day and either get the one with apple or ad it to fruit juice as vitamin c helps you to absorb the iron.

I'm asked my GP for liquid iron rather than tablets and I've not had any side effects compared to loads with the tablets, I've been on this since about 32 weeks. I also eat a couple of prunes each day. Spatone & floradix are fine but there's not much iron in them compared to the prescription stuff and they're quite expensive.

Spatone is great but very expensive. I tried lots of forms of iron, inc Spatone, and found that the bisglycinate form works best for me (pills). It's cheap, doesn't cause ME constipation, and is better at raising iron levels than Spatone. Floradix is another one quite like Spatone. I think it's just trial and error until you find one that suits you.

I have normal guts but find I get a bit constipated generally if I don't eat plenty of fibre, fluid and fat (3 Fs!). The fat is just as important as the fibre - sure you know that but just checking - it's amazing how many people don't know.