Iron levels after c section?

Hi ladies, I had my baby boy nearly 5 weeks ago by emergency c section, had some problems with blood pressure going high & low but before & during the op & lost around 800mls of blood I think. When they went to discharge me my

blood results were showing really high levels of protein, I think it was called crp but not sure. Anyway was telling the HIV last week how I was still feeling awful & she sent me for blood tests & still waiting on most of them to come back but my iron levels came back & they are 7 so is low. How will it be treated? Will I need a transfusion? How long before I feel normal?

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  • Would you want a transfusion?

    Basically I unit of blood should raise your Hb by 1gram - I would expect you to have three units based on that (we usually - slightly arbitrarily - transfuse to a Hb >10). Iron tablets will raise your Hb by 1g every 4 weeks (roughly). I imagine, unless you are very short of breath or have palpitations or dizziness, they will go with oral.

    Don't worry about a CRP raises post operatively. C-Reactive protein is raised in infection, inflammation and after surgery.

    Hope you feel better soon xxx

  • PS my Hb was 5.5 the afternoon after I delivered - had bloods at 17 weeks (two weeks ago when I had mastitis and my Hb was 12.1) xx

  • Thanks Dr Fluffy, was hoping you would be about :-) no I don't want a transfusion but am getting dizzy and scares me so as long as whatever they give me stops that I'm happy.

  • Don't underestimate the effect of having a baby on your body either. I'm still not entirely sure I feel back to normal... Not helped currently by monkey boy refusing to nap when exhausted! He's really grouchy and insisting on being held... :-/

  • They used to check ur iron levels the day after u came home from hospital. ..I really dint know why they stopped doing it. ..I still don't feel right dr has given me s form to check iron levels... hope u feel better loads of iron rich foods as well. ..I airways remember my dad cooking me liver onion and bacon with broccoli and mash when I came home after having my first yummy x

  • Thanks ladies, as usual you are always a great help. I feel like other people ie. friends and extended family expect me to be bouncing around the place were as I feel like I've been run over by a bus & that's before you take the colic, constipation & refusing to sleep with my wee man into account x

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