Apparently normal Iron levels are 11.5-16.5. At 11 week bloods mine were 12.5, so normal. Got results of 28 week bloods back and they are 11.1 now. MW wants me to start Iron tablets, she didnt give me them, just said to get some.

According to MW you arent diagnosed anaemic unless your levels are 10.2, but if levels below 11.3 they recommend starting on the tablets to prevent it.

So basically think im going to start them. Only thing is im prone to constipation as it is and I heard thats a side affect.

Anyone else taken them before & had side affects? Do you think I really need to? Im wondering if I will feel less tired if I take them, but then im not technically anaemic yet so maybe im just 'pregnant tired'? Also wondering if my iron levels are likely to just keep decreasing in next few weeks if I dont start them....

Basically any info on anaemia/iron tablets is appreciated?!!

If you think they might make you constipated try SpaTone...I had it prescribed in my pregnancy as tablets werent working, within a week my levels were up!


They are sachets of natural mineral water - you just take one a day in some juice and they are absorbed much easier, dont have any side effects


They aren't cheap to buy so ask your midwife or doctor to write you a prescription

i didn't have iron tablets til after i lost half my blood having elijah and a) you will feel absolutely wiped out if your iron is low and you aren't taking them, so you probably will feel a bit better if you're on the low side.......b) they make your poop black which is creepy and c) i don't think they made me particularly constipated but i was bf/new baby/i was poorly, so hard to tell, they will give you prescriptions to help with that

so the shorter answer is yeah it's probably worth facing some poop issues to keep it under control now before you feel like sh*t

(side point - iron can't be absorbed that easily, so you must have vitamin c with it - drink loads of orange juice and hey, that will make you poop too )

mariheartselijah wrote:

(side point - iron can't be absorbed that easily, so you must have vitamin c with it - drink loads of orange juice and hey, that will make you poop too )

Thats why I ended up with SpaTone...the tablets just didnt get absorbed...I had a better result with spatone in 1 week than I had for 3 months on tablets!

haha iv never had that much experience with them, i was on 8 a day for the first 2 months after elijah then cut down and was done after 3 months. i couldn't honestly tell you if it WAS the iron/blood loss that was spacing me out or the general chaos

spatone sounds like something i should rub on my buttocks to umm smoothen them

My iron was under 11 all through my pregnancies but they dont start tablets here unless you get under 10.5. I lost 5 pints of blood with Ollie and after 4 blood transfusions my iron was still low so I had to have iron transfusions fo 4 week afterwards (looked like a bag of guiness lol)

With Amelia I 'only' lost 4 pints so I had 2 blood transfusion and was on iron tabs for a month supposedly. They gave me a reallybad stomache though espcially with all the other medicine I was taking. I was on 3 lots of anti b's, diclofenac, co codamol, paracetamol and blood thinning injections so I just never bothered taking them. A bad stomache is seriously NOT what you want when youve just had a section lol

I had Amelia ont he 22nd of April and I had more bloods done on in June and they had gone back to normal on their own x

Just googled spa tone and yup they are pricey! Wonder if my GP would entertain the idea or just tell me to drink OJ like Mari said. Hmmm guess its worth a try!

Stuarts just arrived back with Tesco one a day Iron tabs for me so I'l start on them in mean time. Just thinking how will I know if my levels have increased? Im not due any more routine bloods from MW. I suppose I could request one, eek imagine requesting to have a needle in your arm arghhhh??? I had anti D this week and OMFG it stung and took about 2min to get all the liquid in. *shudders*

And black poo!!! Yuck!!! Dont like the sound of feeling really ill but so like you say il just have to lump it! Weetabix and OJ for breakfast and supper for next few weeks!

think if you ring your health centre/doctors the practice nurse will take a blood sample from you if you say you need to check your iron - if your mw is anything like the ones i had you may as well keep an eye on it yourself cos she aint gonna

I was really sick with the tablets, I was taking as many as I could and felt awful from them


My MIL is erm well I think menopausal as the moment...bleeding loads and so feeling really anemic, so she has had some of my spa tone and she said she honestly felt better really quickly!

Ok Iron tablets are sounding less and less appealing...

I'l make a GP app this week to talk about spa tone and my crazy heartburn! I'l take the tabs anyway for a few days and cross my fingers im not constipated, dont have stomach pains or feel like utter shit!

Interesting Kayleigh that in your area I wouldnt even have got told to take iron tablets and your levels returned to normal anyway... though maybe the transfusions helped.

I had iron tablets for a few months after having Bethany, I lost alot of blood and my iron count went down to 7.2. I should have had a blood transfusion with it being that low but my body coped pretty well, in that I wasn't too breathless etc, so the doc at the hospital said my count must have been very high prior to birth. TBH I don't have any side effects i.e. constipation and my GP said that must have been because I was absorbing all the iron. Hope you are ok with the tabs. ps they make your poo go a funny colour, I found it a bit of a shock at first!!

Ahhhh the iron poos! Amelias been on iron since she was born and her poos are dark greeny/black. Impoosible to wash out if theres an explosion!

After C my level was about 10 (just above transfusion anyway) i think so went home on iron, after A they said it was lowish but up to me if i took em or not so elected not to and all was fine. If you arent comfortable taking it then try eating a lot of iron rich food.

Red meat, soaked grains like quinoa or rolled oats, lentils, sesame seeds, cashews, pine nuts, hazelnuts, mushrooms, potato, spinach, soybeans, olives, sharan fruit

Food high in vit c to help absorption:

Peppers, broccoli, sprouts, peas, sweet potato, tomato paste, cauli, peaches, papaya, orange juice, strawbs, kiwi, mango, pineapple

Just a thought

Thats a good idea Mario but tbh I dont think id manage to do it diet alone. Im alergic to nuts so they out, red meat I do like but again i know I wouldnt cook it every night like Id need too... I sound like im making excuses but reading that list its just not the foods I like, well apart from potato and mushrooms...

Vitamin C would be pretty easy to get through diet though as I like most of those foods so il look at increasing my intake of them.

Im starting to think my MW was overreacting slightly about my levels. Oh well better safe than sorry. I'l see how I go, thanks! x

I had to have iron tablets throughout pg with Lucas, I'm prone to anemia so not a surprise.

My doc gave me prescription for iron tablets and for a syrup to relieve constipation, I took a spoonful every other day and I was ok

Even if my iron levels are one digit below I'm tired and irritable, the iron tablets kept me from being less tired.

They did make me feel better when I had to have them but I hated the taste of them. If you drink plenty of juice or something like that then you shouldn't have problems with constipation. It is best to have them early because when I get bad I'm so tired and grumpy

They tell you to take iron tablets here out of routine rather than checking your levels (even though too much iron is bad!)

but when I was pg with Tyler I would just have like 2 or 3 a week rather than one every day. or if I felt particulary run down Id have one . probs not the best idea but I didn't want to get constipated lol. and thats the exact reason I haven't taken any this time round because I have enough trouble going as it is!