Iron levels

[Blackmito]

HiI'm 12 weeks pregnant and expecting twins. The midwife asked me a number of questions and said I was high risk for low iron so said I had to start taking iron tablets daily (322mg). However, I just got blood test results back and my iron levels were fine. I asked if I still had to take them and she said yes because it was likely to drop. I've been reading that it's dangerous for your iron levels to be too high. I don't really understand why I have to take these if my levels are ok. Surely it would make more sense to test again in a couple of weeks and if it's dropped, then begin taking them? Obviously I'm not a medical professional and don't know enough about this. Does anyone else know more about this or has anyone experience of this?

Thanks!

[Christianbaby]

Hi! There are smaller dosage of iron tablets (65mg). I took them during my pregnancy because my iron levels were within normal so I didn't take the larger doses. You may ask your midwife about this. Wishing you a healthy pregnancy. x

[Blackmito in reply to Christianbaby]

Oh thank you for this! I'll have a chat with her x

[Tarasunny]

Im pregnant with twins. My ferritin was 167 at 9 weeks but was told I still needed to take iron 3 times a week (it's protocol for twins) as they are likely to sap all the iron out of you! They were right by 29 weeks my ferritin was 24!

[Blackmito in reply to Tarasunny]

Oh wow! Yeah I'll maybe have a chat about taking them just a few times a week or lowering the dose until the levels drop. Thanks!

[soccerkt6]

Hi lovely, I’d listen to your midwife on this. I found out my iron levels were low around 22 weeks and despite taking absolute tonnes of iron for the rest of pregnancy, I had only moderately increased my levels by the time I gave birth. And I only had a singleton.

Iron needs start increasing so rapidly in the second trimester that by the time your levels start dropping, it’s really hard to reverse the trend. So you want to start supplementing before you think you need it.

Are your current iron levels borderline high or just normal? If normal, I would follow the midwife’s advice and just recheck your levels in a month to make sure they haven’t gone too high. But I think that’s probably unlikely tbh xx

[Blackmito in reply to soccerkt6]

Ah ok thank you so much for this! I don't actually know what the levels are. They just said they were normal. Yeah, I think you're right...I'll just get them checked again in a while to make sure x

[Eggfreezer2015]

I would go with your midwife advice. I stopped taking iron for a 2/3 weeks even though was at a good level and it dropped. So better to maintain as you progress in the pregnancy you need more. X