26+3 - Feeling Awful!

[sickandsleepy]

Hi all - I don't know if anyone has any advice, or if i just need to know i'm not alone! This is my first pregnancy.

For the past 2-3 weeks I have been feeling so incredibly drained and tired during the day, but not just the type of tired where a coffee will pick me up, the type of tired where it feels like I've been given some kind of sedative! My bones and muscles are physically tired, I can't think straight and I could just cry I feel so tired.

I'm sleeping fine at night, don't wake up and I'm getting at least 9 hours a night. If I don't set an alarm, I'll EASILY sleep over 12 hrs which is not like me. I take a Vitamin D supplement daily.

I had a midwife appt last week and explained this to her, she did say it's normal to feel like this in pregnancy but took a blood test for Iron - the HB was 121 and Ferritin 24 - apparently this is normal but based on my research it's the lowest end of normal.

Is anyone else feeling like this? I'm just so stuck and don't know how to pick myself up - i'm exhausted! 😔

Yes, I am feeling this at 24 weeks. But my iron levels are lower (HB 105 and ferritin 14). It is purely up to your particular hospital that says is the accepted amount of ferritin (mine says under 10 Ferritin is when you get iron tablets or under HB 105, while others in other hospitals say 30 for ferritin and 120 for HB). I got p*ssed off with the whole thing and used private doctor to prescribe iron. I was still prescribed a dose to prevent anaemia and not treat it (200mg vs 325mg).

I was told by other people on Mumsnet that the pharmacy can help you gain some tablets, but not sure if they will do this unprescribed.

Here are some sites that confirm the figures:

Right at the bottom of this page -
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anaemia-iron-deficiency/diagnosis/investigations/

and ferritin levels from this -
https://www.transfusionguidelines.org/transfusion-handbook/9-effective-transfusion-in-obstetric-practice/9-2-anaemia-and-pregnancy

I am just sad that the NHS expect us to be almost dead from tiredness before they do anything about it.

Anyway, that was my rant over. :-)

So after all this I was trying to say that your figures are still on the low end, especially ferritin levels.

Thank you for replying, I'm sorry you're having the same problems!

Thanks for the links, I think I'll try a pharmacy first and if no luck, a private GP. I agree that it doesn't seem ideal that we have to be on the floor before considered for treatment!

Best of luck in the rest of your pregnancy

I am 21 weeks and felt like this a couple of weeks ago, absolutely drained of energy, beyond even the tiredness I felt in the 1st trimester. I tried to push through thinking it was just pregnancy but it turned out I had a urinary tract infection. I was given antibiotics and I felt so so much better. I didn’t have the typical symptoms, I was passing more urine but there was no pain or burning, my main symptom was exhaustion.

My GP also didn’t really take it seriously, putting it down to pregnancy. I had to turn up with my own urine sample and even after he dipped it and found white cells, he was still reluctant to give me anything. I had to go to an out of hours clinic on the weekend to get the prescription on the advice of the maternity hospital as I just felt so unwell.

Its so frustrating for healthcare professionals to just write it off as pregnancy and shrug their shoulders. It’s worth getting a second opinion and persisting. Hope you feel better soon and get to the bottom of it x