23 weeks and feeling light-headed and faint - low iron levels?

[BettyButterknife]

Have felt this on and off for the past week. My instincts say it's iron levels, but I will go to my midwife and find out.

In the meantime, presumably upping my intake of iron-rich foods won't hurt, will it? Any advice?

Go and get a blood test from midwife asap, but your instincts are probably right!!
If you up your intake now it may / will affect the blood test result, but afterwards it is worth getting Spatone form your chemist / health food shop - fab stuff, no constipation!! (which is the down side of iron tablets)...........hope you feel better soon
Lou

I'm the same and also 23 weeks, although I am feeling breathless, exhausted and have palpitations every now and then too.

I am eating well, including iron rich food plus drinking pure orange juice so the vit C helps with the absorbtion of iron and eating plenty of fruit too, so do try this, but I still think I may be anaemic/borderline. Am getting bloods done tomorrow (my request).

hiya sweetie

i am 22wks thurs and have been gettin this throughout my preg.. however all tests say i'm not anaemic and fine!!
I'm awaiting on my blood results for liver/kidney function as i have hyperemesis n on medication to stop me bein sick.. i have had 7 blood tests in total all sayin i am fine.

So yh definately up ur iron intake as that cant do any harm at all.. and ask ur docs or mw to check bloods as either can do them.

loujay
Spatone?? not heard of it b4 but i may have a look as anything is worth a try.

its embarressing for me as i go lightheaded n vision goes blurred when i'm out n about in supermarkets/shops. I struggle to do many things alone (ie cooking/cleaning/poppin to shop or even the school run) as i have 2 DC to look after n not good when i have to sit down b4 i fall down..

Hope u get this sorted soon
I hope they find out why its happenin to me lol

cheapest place for spatone on my web search easlier is is amazon - £4.35 and free delivery - most other places charge for delivery. its fab stuff, no tablets to swallow and no constipation.

it says 28 days supply but actually only 14 days as you would take 2 sachets per day.

worth getting blood test done asap so you know for sure.

hiya MumNLondon

I have had more bloods done last wk when i had my scan but heard nothing bak yet. Id of thought they'd of called like before if something was up!! Might give the docs a call to ask again.

Thanks for the info

How's your blood pressure generally? It sounds like it could be low BP if your iron levels are ok.

its probably low bp. i had it and got signed off for a week. Its to do with not having enough blood for you and the baby and you just need to rest until you make more.

Aha, I do have quite low blood pressure generally - the midwives often comment on it, and I used to faint a lot when I was younger. Maybe that's it... love the sound of a week off work!

I agree with Trillian42 and Tootiredforgodtyping - I suffered from light headedness and feeling faint and found out my blood pressure was 80/60. Which is (apparently) very low and explained it all. It might very well be that you've got low bp too - but an iron rich diet won't do you any harm in the meantime.

I was anaemic from about 24 weeks but it made me feel breathless rather than lightheaded. I also had a few palpitations and they took a blood test and did a 24-hour ECG (not as bad as it sounds - they attach the monitor and pads and then you can just go about as normal).

(I'm now taking an iron tablet a day but I still have a bit of breathlessness which they attriute to air-hunger - i.e. because of the baby squeezing into the space normally occupied by lungs it feels to me like I'm not getting enough air, but in reality I am - it's just that the thought makes me a bit panicy and liable to slightly hyperventilate.)

Definitely get it checked out, I would say, because it could be a number of things. In the meantime, I don't think broccoli and chickpeas ever hurt anyone.