Concerned about iron!

[From123]

I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant, I was told after my bloods were done at my 12 week appointment that my blood was excellent for a pregnant woman, this was either 142 or 147, so I was told I didn’t need to take iron (original query because prior to pregnancy I was borderline anaemic and put on tablets for a while until all was fine).. At around 16 weeks I had an appointment with a dietician and was told that although hemoglobin was good, ferritin wasn’t so good, she was looking at bloods from November not April but insisted on me being checked at the Doctors. I booked an appointment for that day, the doctor also couldn’t view my bloods from April but based on what I told him he said he didn’t feel it was necessary and that if I had bloods at 20 weeks it could wait. I had another appointment with the dietitian this past week and she wasn’t happy that my iron hadn’t been checked and said they need to check it because I’d been light headed and dizzy. The doctors refused to book me in without a letter from the hospital even though I’m symptomatic. I felt better but then last night came over a-bit dizzy again (could be pregnancy). I was told to email this address to explain what I needed done etc, no response!

I don’t know much about this but I’m really concerned about what kind of impact this will have on my baby. No one seems to be bothered and I feel like it’s making me worry, I’ve read horrible things. Any advise on what to do?

Speak to your midwife rather than the GP, the midwife can do your bloods or at least request that they are done. My iron was really low, midwife took my bloods and sent a note to my doctor to prescribe iron tablets. I had a farse with GPs about my vitamin C levels when I was pregnant too, I had my bloods done and my levels were low, midwife requested high strength Vit C to be prescribed and they refused, my midwife had to ring them and demand for them to sort it

My midwife hasn’t responded to me in weeks, I’ve been left on my own with all of this, I’m so frustrated…

As above usually your midwife would deal with this. GPs don’t usually deal with pregnancy related things anymore. There’s many reasons for feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Could be blood pressure for example. You’ll have a midwife appointment at 24 weeks anyway. Stay off google and trust the health care professionals. If you’re worried then take pregnancy vitamins as they contain iron.

Are you taking pregnancy vitamins?

Also, for what reason are you seeing a dietitian? It’s not a usual thing to do during pregnancy. Have you sought them out privately and if so is this an anxiety issue? Or were you sent to them via your Midwife/GP specifically for the anaemia? Because if it’s the latter ask them to communicate with your midwife and Gp themselves rather than get you to do all the requesting (which is getting you nowhere).

If your specific Midwife isn’t responding to you and you’ve given her plenty of time to do so then I’d look into what the procedures are regarding contacting the midwife service in general. If it’s more of an anxiety problem than a physical problem it’s ok to tell them that, they’d like to know.

Overall though remember you do have an appointment coming up so can address it then if you haven’t got anywhere beforehand.

I can't help on how to actually solve your problem, but if it puts your mind at ease, the reason they worry about iron levels in pregnancy is more for your health not baby's, reducing risk of blood loss after birth etc. I think they do bloods again at 28weeks as standard and will check iron and ferritin again. If either of those flag as low then there's plenty of time to get your levels back up before birth. Try not to worry too much

@PickledScrump My midwife doesn’t answer which is why I’ve gone around in circles but I did go to the doctor today he found the correct results and said my hemoglobin was fine but couldn’t see any ferritin for those ones, he has booked me in for bloods next week and I should be getting a call from the midwife in the meantime. I take the folic and vitamin D as I was told by my midwife I don’t need to take iron as my results were good. I also had blood pressure taken, that was all fine.

@YellowHatt I was referred via a consultant at my hospital, it’s not private it’s just to see how I am with my diet etc and she flagged it up but she was looking at Novembers results not my 12 week ones.

@Spottypineapple
Thank you, it seems like I can’t get a straight answer from my midwife. The dietician said that I would be fine for another week which I didn’t understand but when I told the doctor today he said she’s probably just said that to cover herself but even that’s made me think the worst but he seemed to think that as my hemoglobin was good, I shouldn’t worry.

Haemoglobin*

So your haemoglobin is fine but if ferritin is low it means your reserves are low and potentially pregnancy, blood loss at birth etc will drain them further. It doesn’t sound like there’s an immediate issue/risk but it would be wise to take an antenatal supp with iron and increase your dietary iron (read meat, beans, nuts) to increase your stores. And obvs get your bloods done.

It’s not such an urgent issue as you seem to think - did the dietitian scare you with some horror story?

If your haemoglobin was over 140 then you have enough iron that you shouldn’t be seriously symptomatic. You have enough red blood cells to supply lots of oxygen and nutrients to baby, more than many people in fact.

If your ferritin is low then it would be sensible to give you iron supplements to get those levels up to normal. That way, if you bleed when you give birth your body will have enough iron to replace the blood and you’re less likely to be really unwell.

Dizziness in pregnancy can be caused by loads of things and in my experience it’s often not possible to pinpoint one specific cause, I wouldn’t worry unless it’s getting worse.

The iron replacement is not urgent though. Next week is plenty of time, if ferritin is low you’ll take iron for a couple of months then repeat bloods. There plenty of time to do that before baby comes.