Light headed and weak, 27 weeks

[DundeeLight]

I have suddenly been feeling very weak and drained, light headed, and had trouble concentrating last few days. I was walking earlier and started to feel pretty dizzy too. I went to my GP today, BP ok, also had a blood test to check for low iron (I eat red meat twice a week, fish once, plus pregnacare daily supplement...is this enough to keep iron topped up?) ... hopefully get results tmrw.

Anyone else have similar experiences and do you know the cause? Or was it just a pregnancy thing...? I have had a pretty active pregnancy until this, feel too weak to do anything at the moment!

I've had light headedness if I get up too quick and haven't drunk enough water or fluids in the day.
I felt weak last week or so too but that was alongside having covid and heavy cold symptoms.

I'm almost 29w.

Do you drink much in the day? Eat/snack frequently?

Thanks for the reply. I've purposely been drinking more water last few days but hasn't made any difference, my urine is usually pretty clear too. Will try extra snacks tomorrow but it's the kind of weakness where I don't feel more energised after eating, if that makes sense.

Did they check your BP while you were standing after walking a bit?

I had one pregnancy where when I was standing, the baby would shift and block off the blood supply running up my back from my legs back to my heart. So blood would then drain from my head, and pool in my lower body…thus restricting blood supply going up to my brain. I’d then faint when standing still/walking around. My BP would get lower and lower when standing until I fainted.

When I was seated, the baby wouldn’t be pressing on the veins involved (they were along my spine), and my blood would circulate perfectly well, and my BP was normal albeit on the low side of normal.

This started my 2nd trimester too when the baby was big enough to make a difference.

I wasn’t put on bed rest but strict no exercise and only seated activity/work as I was still working.

I had low iron despite eating red meat/ pregnacare etc. midwife said concentrate on dark leafy greens, use the cooking water from veg to make gravy/soups etc. I was on the verge of needing extra iron tablets, by the next appointment my iron levels were much better.

Get your iron checked,I had this and that's what was wrong. My iron was low and it was causing me to have energy lows to the point of almost fainting.

Don't let them fob you off. If you are close to the limit (hg levels of 105) then tell them you are symptomatic and need iron.

Thanks @Twoinapod @Emerald237
That's really good advice about finding out the actual blood test results rather than just accepting a 'normal' status if I'm close to threshold. I had my ferritin checked too.

I just read the following ferritin range guidelines on a NHS page:

Low: Less than 15 ug/L
Borderline: 16 – 40 ug/L
Normal: 41 – 400 ug/L
High: Greater than 400

If it continues and your iron and ferritin levels are normal, try taking a magnesium supplement before bed and getting your thyroid levels checked. And always ask for your actual results for blood tests, not just a normal/abnormal. Mistakes often happen. I think you can also see your actual results on the NHS app

Brilliant, thank you @SeaToSki I just looked on my NHS app and the results were there, never knew I could access the data this way and so quickly! There's no results for serum ferritin though, soo frustrating. Not sure why, the doctor said she was going to test for this. My haemoglobin is 122 so within normal.

I received my ferritin levels from my GP via the NHS app, 14 which I understand is low. I've read on a NHS page that when pregnant, anything under 30 requires supplementation.

Should I phone my midwife to ask what to do in terms of how to supplement (tmrw - Saturday or wait until Monday)? Or just go and ask at the pharmacy about iron supplements for pregnant women?

Sorry, first pregnancy and I feel absolutely rubbish and want to get this sorted asap but not sure of the most appropriate route!