Iron tablets and constipation - help!

[Tasha121]

Hi, I'm 27 weeks pregnant and recently had to start iron tablets - 200mg once a day, only the starting dose for now. The problem is I was really struggling with constipation before this, and now it's awful - I'm lucky if I go twice a week!

I also take lactulose, was percsribed 15ml twice a day but it does nothing - my midwife suggested taking 30ml in one go instead, and this does sometimes help, but this week is useless! Doing all the things you're meant to, weetabix every day, fruit and veg, OJ, prunes and prune juice when I can get hold of them.

Is there anything stronger than Lactulose that's safe to take? Midwife didn't mention anything and said just keep increasing the dose if not working, but again, not sure how safe that is either?!

Fybogel. Allbran and water x

I don't know the answer but you could pop in to a pharmacy to ask a pharmacist? They might be able to advise and generally easier/quicker to access than a midwife or gp

Weetabix bulks you up so it csn make it worse. Try bran flakes or even skipping the cereal altogether and just go with the juices etc I m in iron not pregnant but I find an over ripe banana helps me. I don't think there is anything otc that is advisable bur ask the midwife about movicol.

What form of iron are you taking? Iron bisglycinate is far and away the best, and doesn't cause constipation in most people as far as I know. It's certainly fine for me, and I DID have a bad experience with fumarate and another one I can't remember the name of.

There are also liquid forms of iron like spatone and floradix, which don't cause constipation either, but I found they didn't actually have much effect on boosting iron levels, so a bit of a waste of time.

See if your doc will prescribe liquid iron such as Sytron. I’ve had it on and off through the years after struggling with tablets. Easier for body to absorb with it being liquid form & no where near as bad side effects. Currently on it during pregnancy too. Good luck.

Orange juice (fresh) and lots of water,lots and lots of water.

Fybogel, prunes, lots of water (extra if you can) and watch out for piles!

Weetabix bulks you up, definitely not a good idea to have it if you’re constipated. Exercise can help stimulate the bowels. If you only need a low level of iron have you tried making diet changes instead of taking supplements. Increasing red meats and dark leafy greens, using vegetable cooking water to make gravy and soups to get all the vitamins. My midwife recommended this before prescribing iron and my levels shot up within 2 weeks.

You'd be much better off with porridge (made with rolled oats, not instant sachets or ready brek) and/or low fat yoghurt for breakfasts, these are much lower GI and will also help you feel fuller for longer.
Would also recommend adding fybogel sachets alongside the lactulose, start with 1 sachet a day but could go up to 2 plus the lactulose if needed.

Also keep active, try and do at least 8000 steps a day, can do some swimming instead if you get bad SPD with walking.
Try and increase your water intake too

I would suggest Spatone (assuming it's safe during pregnancy). Amazon sell it.

When this happened to me I just took the iron tablets every other day.

I've just gone to my doctors for exactly the same thing. They prescribed me a different form of iron but said if I don't get on with these I could try and infusion instead?

I second this - I have no issues with bisglycinate but have suffered constipation with other forms of iron. Would need to check with Dr/midwife for safety in pregnancy though.

Take your iron pills outside main meals and with a big glass of orange juice.

Take plenty of floradix instead of the iron tablets, I found I felt much better within the first week and my chronic constipation didn't get worse with it (unlike the tablets).

For constipation Psyllium Husks from H&B are very good and gentle, drink plenty of fluids and far more palatable as they are capsules containing a stool softener.

I had Liquid iron. Its in medicine form. Sytrone like others have said I think the name of it is.

I started having half a bowl of bran flakes and half a bowl of Frosties each morning (most mornings I remembered). The Frosties are to mask the bran flakes. It helped me to go more regular, not daily but more than I used to. My dh has had it since he was a child so it’s easy access in the house.

Iron tablets give me terrible constipation. I stopped them and switched to spatone sachets. I took 2 per day and it brought my iron levels up from anaemic to mid-range normal within about 10 weeks. Never had a problem with upset stomach or constipation whilst taking them.

For foods that kept me regular during pregnancy, I found porridge with stewed apples stirred into it (I also added cinnamon and a sprinkle of brown sugar so that it tasted like apple pie!) worked a treat! You can either make a pan of stewed apples and just add a dollop into a bowl of cooked porridge or chop an apple up, simmer in a splash of water in a pan for 5-10 mins until soft, then add your oats and milk to the same pan and cook the porridge as usual

Ditch the weetabix, head for fruit fibre - eat oranges, dates/prunes, apples (might just be me!). Just eat All bran or Bran Flakes for a day with fruit etc. I think there's sorting yourself out to "clear the backlog" (apocalypse) and then managing to avoid it happening again - this is in my experience a lot about liquid. You need to be swimming in liquid in my experience.

Hi @Tasha121 try porridge instead of Weetabix. Also, lentils are good x

Apple juice is good for constipation. Orange juice helps the iron be absorved bettter, the apple juice makes you run for the loo. You can also cook apples, boil them and eat the apples, save the juice till it's cold and then drink that throughout the day.