midwife appt - did not go as expected. Should I just go with it and stop worrying?

[pavlovthecat]

I have felt unwell throughout this entire pg. I have been suffering with hyperemesis, which is now thankfully controlled mostly through cyclizine medication. But I have been unable to shake the feeling of unwellness even now.

I have been seriously lacking in energy, and exhausted, unnaturally exhausted. Walking stairs wears me out, I feel like I have lead feet, my muscles ache, I am tired and breathless, I sleep a LOT, I have an almost constant headache. Yesterday for example I worked 6 hours (with a break) then slept for 2 hours between 4-6pm, like proper full on deep sleep, woke from this feeling tired and groggy. Same today. Sweet food tastes yuck, leaves a funny taste in my mouth, coats my mouth in a stickiness, which I have most of the time anyway. Oh, and to top it I have a raised temp today.

Anyway, I thought I might be anaemic, given sickness levels.

So forward to midwife appt today. Baby is healthy. Midwife does not think I am anaemic, because I don't look it, and because my iron levels were 13.7 at last check (10 weeks) so I would likely have reserves . Should I question this or just accept she knows what she is talking about?

Also, she said my urine contained sugars, +2, she said. She was surprised, and asked when I took it, was it after lunch. I said I had a bacon sarnie at 11am, and had sipped a little weak lemon squash in the morning before 12pm, and had taken my sample at 1:30pm. She said it could be this, although would be surprising as sugar content was not high. She said it would be tested again at next appt which is with consultant on 26 June and advised to take it first thing to be most accurate. Is that ok? Should I be worried? I asked her if it should be taken sooner to check and she just laughed and said to my husband 'does she always worry?' .

I just know I do not feel right this pregnancy and not entirely sure I feel that I am being taken seriously, am I being paranoid, is everything being done right? DH said if there was something to be worried about she would act on it now so to stop worrying, but I really want to feel well again. i can cope with tiredness but this constant exhaustion and ill feeling is getting me down.

Sorry for the moan. Am a bit fed up.

Blimey.
Definately ask for an iron test. I felt wiped out when I was pg with ds but I wasn't pescribed iron tablets til the very end, and it did make a positive difference. I wonder how much of midwives brushing things off is because you've already had one baby iyswim? Mine certainly seemed to have less time for my concerns second time round

Hmmmm I would maybe ask for a sooner appt. You sound a bit like I did before I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (really don't want to worry you!!)...maybe they can schedule you with a GTT??

xxx

Becca - I know what you mean. I have had worries that something might be up already, because I felt tired with DD, but not unwell, just, well, pregnant!

littlelamb - do you know DH said pretty much that when I woke up from my nap and felt crap and upset. He said, we know they do not take second pregnancies so seriously, he said he has heard that is the case and its probably true that they have less sympathy second time around. And i agree with him and you, It all just seems to be, as long as baby is not at risk of anything right now, who gives a crap how you feel.

I just felt it would not hurt to give me some reassurances, just check my bloody iron levels.

I mean, if there is nothing wrong, great, but if there is, the quicker it is identified, the quicker it can be dealt with and I can start enjoying this bloody pregnancy.

becca and she just said, if its a one off, its nothing to worry about, but if it is present next time I will need further tests, so its not even that she said its nothing to worry about, but rather, it may be, it might not be, but you got to wait til your next appt to find out. (and 26 June is a guess, its when I have my scan, don;t even know if consultant appt is at same time yet)

Get another opinion.
In my experience you have a much better understanding of your body than any health practitioner and can't expect them to give an accurate diagnosis after a 10min check up.

I've had two pregnancies and find that you have to really be prepared to state your case loud and clear if you don't want to brushed off as a 'worried' mum-to-be.

Get another opinion and fast.
If your MW was right then no harm done, if not, and there is something else, then you'll only be glad you were seen by a doctor.

can you go to your own GP. being pregnant should not mean that you only are allowed to see a MW and no-one else.

and if you know you feel wrong, then you have every right to be checked more thoroughly. I know I did during my pregnancy with DS2, and had the crappiest of crap care, with no-one taking any notice, then at 20wks got admitted into hospital with a nasty chest infection and heart murmur, and then at 28wks went into prem labour!!

am not in any way suggesting this is you of course, but I am saying that you need push for better care, if only to rule out nothing more than it being your 2nd pregnancy.

in the meantime, maybe get yourself some spatone. it is a mineral rich liquid, in one serving sachets, and if you mix it with some orange juice it helps raise your iron levels. I swear by it when mine is low as it is a far kinder and nicer way than iron tabs, altho it is pricey.

lots of sympathy.......feeling crap is rough at any time, but during pregnancy is worse IME.....they seem to fob you off, like you say, as long as babe is ok.

The midwife should be referring you to be tested for gestational diabetes, I really don't understand why she didn't. Also you need your iron levels checked.

Go and see a doctor, hopefully they'll do their job properly unlike the midwife.

Can you go to your GP and ask for them to do the tests you want?

My care is shared between the GP and midwife. I have just been going to my docotor if I am worried about anything. I'm sure that even if your care is not shared, you would still be intitled to go and ask your doctor for the tests.

I would get another opinion too. Or, if you want, you can get the urine dip sticks on the internet - from access diagnostics I think - and you could do that test yourself.

On the anaemia front, you could be as you have probably not been getting a good diet so far if you have been feeling (being?) sick for all this time so I would have thought that should be considered too. You don't sound too good at all. You don't really want to get to 28 weeks, or whenever they next test you, and for them to say 'oh shit your hb is under 10' and then you have less time to do something about it. If you want to do something now, you could start taking a sachet or two of spatone - an iron supplement you put in orange juice - and see if that perks you up. I took that after my last birth when my hb was 8 and it got me feeling much better after 2 weeks, when the doc had told me it'd take up to 3 months with the pills.

i have seen the gp a lot already, as he has dealt with my hyperemesis, i have only seen the midwife once. I did have my urine checked about 3 weeks ago, when they were checking for ketones, but this was a registrar duty dr who was following some kind of mental checklist - would they have checked for sugars then, or just protein? if they checked sugars, would it have changed in 3 weeks?

I guess what with DHs attitude of 'there is always something bloody wrong' and 'your fine, the midwife says so, you are just a bit under the weather, probably got a little bug or something' I feel like I am making a fuss about nothing, being paranoid, worrying unecessarily. And I feel so upset about it it is unreal. I feel like a hypochondriac.

rubles - up til 2.5 weeks ago, I was not holding much food or liquid down at all from around 8 weeks (am now 16) And although I am eating, I am eating much less that I did pre-pregnancy. I have lost weight, currently I am under my last tested weight by 4oz, but have put some on since I was last weighed too, so guess I lost around half a stone due to sickness.

I will go get some spatone. If I am not anaemic, it won't hurt to keep it that way, and if I am, I can do something about it. I don't care about expense. It it will help.

I would go for another opinion. When pregnant with dd I went to see my gp as I didn't feel right. I couldn't pin it down so she took bloods for iron but said she didn't think anything was wrong and that pregnancy just does that to you and apparently 11-12 weeks is when you can feel worst. Short story is something was wrong and I ended up with a 27weeker.
Now I'm not saying this to freak you or because I think it will happen to you but to show that if you know something isn't right then you have to go with your instinct. It may be something really small but youare probably right.

Hyperemesis made me feel absolutely floored with exhaustion. It's not just the vomiting. The fatigue was almost as bad.

I would definitely go and see the GP. It was my GP who ran the tests to pick up cholestasis rather than my MW.

I hate to diss MWs because I think they are brilliant but too often in AN appts they have way too many women to churn through and so can't pick up stuff. Also, the fact that you've been pregnant before means you're not an hysterical pg woman.

You know what you normally feel like when you're pg and this isn't it. Go with your instincts, usually correct I think in this sort of situation.

LaTrucha I agree with that! When I was in the throws (excuse the unintended pun!) of hyperemesis, before it was controlled with medication, I could barely get out of bed. And I have expected that it will take a while to recover my strength since I have been holding down food. But I guess I expected some improvement in my energy levels.

it may be a simple as the drugs side effects of drowsiness are hitting me full force. I just feel that it would not hurt to rule things out.

Spicemonster I agree AN appts seem more of a formality and checkbox exercise. My MW is lovely, in my last pg she was great, I had personal issues (mum was ill) and she would come to see me at home, she acted immediately on concerns about baby growth at 30 weeks, this time she seems busy i guess, and as she said herself, November is a busy time with babies being due.

You could drink Floradix or whatever it's called? Won't hurt and may help. You have my sympathy - I felt utterly, utterly shite throughout 95% of my pregnancy and it was horrid. May be it's nothing (I didn't have cholestasis, nor pre-eclampsia, nor diabetes although it was suspected I had all three). Still felt awful!

I didn't mean it to sound as if you shouldn't have an iron test, only that your tiredness could be explained by your hyperemesis. My HG was controlled but didn't get completely better until I had DD.

LaTrucha - don't worry I did not take it that way. I agree it may be as simple as the medication has releived the sickness but the rest of it is still there. But, it would be helpful if the midwife said that was a possibility rather than, you might have a problem with sugars, you might not. And you are not anaemic, cos you don't look it.

MMm yes. That's a bit of a random diagnosis, isn't it?

Thing is, the sugar in urine thing is just not diagnostic. The People That Know say it is totally pointless to do the test as many women have glucose in their urine when pg, just due to changes in your kidneys.

I had positive glucose tests all through pg, and normal glucose tolerance tests - 3 times

Just had a good chat with my friend who is type 1 diabetic and has got an 8mth old. She was very reassuring.

She said it is highly likely that the sugar was there as a result of drinking the lemon squash, as this was sugar free, she said +2 was not too high and was at the right level to be due to a sugary drink even a few hours before and as there were no ketones present, the midwife would be unlikely to have been too concerned. She said that sugar in the urine in pregnancy is actually quite common, according to her diabetic nurse, and that even if it was a 'problem' it could easily be a urine infection or something else that is easy to resolve. She said if ketones had been found, it would have been different, as these are very often (but not always) present with diabetes. She also said that eating anything even if it is not necessarily sugar based would affect the urine sample esp in pregnancy as the body has to work harder to convert the sugar into energy/fat.

Shame my midwife could not have just told me all this eh?

And I am going to buy some spatone or something similar, and sod being bloody ill. I am sick of it, to the back teeth and I have decided, today, I will not be ill or feel sorry for myself. Today is a day to be active and stop all this moping.

See you in half hour when I collapse ok?!!