Palpitations and shortness of breath

[SimoMa]

Dear Mums and Mums-To-Be, this is my first post here and glad to be part of this community! Anyone has/had palpitations and shortness of breath symptoms related to anemia (I'm vegetarian) in pregnancy? I'm nearly 13 weeks pregnant and currently taking iron tablets my midwife gave and really hope to feel better soon thank you!

[Qwerty1144]

Hi I am 35 weeks at the moment and I always had problems with anaemia especially during my pregnancies (this is my 2nd).

I have taken 200mg ferrous sulphate for the majority of the pregnancy, but at my 28 week check up they’ve realised my haemoglobin has gone very low - I had 89 (and it should be between 120-140) which meant my body didn’t really assimilated the tablets. I had all the symptoms, still have some of them (tired, low mood, palpitation, shortness of breath, dizziness paleness you name it) and I ended up with ferritin infusion twice at 32 and 33 weeks. Done couple of private scans myself and have been offered growth scans too due to my first being a small baby (now she is a healthy 6 year old, still petite but full of energy)

If you have any worries talk with you midwife, they should be able to offer you alternatives if the tables don’t work.

They have reassured me that baby is fine and developed well, besides probably being a small baby once again.

Hope you feel better soon and have an easy birth. Good luck!

[Hills2005]

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I had anaemia too I believe mines started as early as 8 weeks. Had same symptoms you described and it got so worse I couldn’t even walked to the shop which was just around the corner without taking several breaks. I was in iron tablets too which took a while to kick in.

But my midwife advised me to have meals which are full in fibres and iron otherwise the tablet itself will not sort the problem quickly enough. I decided to change my diet completely because I couldn’t cope anymore with the breathlessness. I ate whetabix and oatmeal for breakfast I added lots of fruits at least 3 varieties in my breakfast, and lots of veggies broccoli, spinach were my favourites for lunch and dinner. I also ate beans, red meat and fish. But there are lots of different food if you google as some I suggested are not for vegetarian.

A friend of mines suggested I eat dates as they are very rich in iron but have loads of sugar so you could take at least 5 to 6 dates daily. Just need to be careful with gestational diabetes as many fruits have natural sugar too. Can speak to your midwife and she’ll be able to advise more on foods choices to make sure you are getting the right food.

This improved a lot my symptoms and my iron levels increased from 108 to 125. Then I took myself out of the prescription as I believed I didn’t need it anymore and I continued with my high rich fibre diet. Also for the tablet to absorb well into your blood stream it is advised to take it with a glass of orange juice. Also caffeine can reduce the amount of iron absorption in your body. When the midwife did my bloods when I was 39 weeks my iron levels were within normal range. So I kept doing what I was doing and when I delivered my son 4 days later I lost blood but my irons were stable enough not to need transfusion.

Hope you’ll feel better soon sending loads of best wishes xxx

[SimoMa in reply to Hills2005]

Thank you so much for your comment, your experience reflects exactly were I am at the moment! It started more than a couple of weeks ago I was on week 9) when I realised I struggled walking back home from the grocery. I've been taken tablets and adjusted my diet with more iron rich food (with vitamin C) ever since and I was hoping to feel better by now but I'm actually getting worse. How long did it take foe you to feel better? My latest iron level was 106 but the doctor said is not low enough for me to feel that bad.

[Hills2005 in reply to SimoMa]

Honestly it took a while for me to start feeling better. I even asked my Gp to do some more investigations like ECG, ECHO & bloods again cause I thought something was wrong with my heart as the palpation was worse especially in the night. But the dr said my irons were still significantly low but things will improve I should continue with the prescription.

Bloods were taken again at 28 weeks and my iron improved to 110. My midwife said this is safe but still low but my symptoms were gradually improving.

Are you taking x3 a day your iron? I know it sounds impossible but you’ll start to feel better soon keep doing the good things you are doing. All the best.

[Smithy1981]

Hi SimoMa, yes I have suffered with this since I was around week 12 and didn’t know until my 28 week routine blood test that I was suffering from the same thing. I am not vegetarian though but have been put on iron tablets which took about a week to make me start to feel better. I still suffer from the shortness of breath and I am now 33 weeks now but the heart palpitations have disappeared. Hope you feel better soon xx

[SimoMa]

Thank you everyone for your replies, a quick update: following two months from this post I've been give an iron infusion last Monday as my Hb kept going down (last blood test wad 98). I know it will take a few weeks for the infusion to start its effect but I'm so worried my body will keep struggling with the absorbion. My symptoms got worse, now on a daily basis, I had to stop work and spending pretty much most of my time in bed. I'm now 21 weeks pregnant.