Breathlessness in second trimester????

[smile123]

Hi everyone,

I'm 21 weeks and have been feeling breathless with activity in the last 2 weeks and had light headedness for the previous 3 weeks. My bloods showed slight dip in protein and slightly elevated CRP levels. Doc said to rest and hopefully it'll clear itself up.

Has anyone else experienced breathlessness in second trimester and if so did it clear up?

[ritz21]

Hi I am not yet in my second trimester with my first pregnancy so dont have a direct experience. But my mom always had the breathlessness during her three kids and with a result me and my sister were born blue (now that is not particularly harmful, given that both of us did pretty well in school got scholarships and awards, I am on my way to doctorate in law and my sister is studying philosophy hons., but sometimes during our kid-hood i do remember sneaking by the door and the doctors telling my parents that we can not fare well in school as our brains got less oxygen as we were blue kids - Ouch that was a mean doctor, it hurts, I thought then ! )

But if you are feeling worried about it, than maybe you should try doing some deep breathing exercise and take lots of rest, water and pomegranate juice (I had a slight unknown kind of asthma some years ago and all these things helped me breath easy and build my stamina too, and anyways they are healthy stuffs with no side-effects!)

Good luck - remember to consciously deep breath

xoxo

[Kaley]

Hi smile123

Breathlessness and light headedness are both symptoms of iron deficiency. Has your doctor or midwife checked your levels recently? Also if your baby is taking up a lot of space now you can feel a bit breathless as there is less room for your lungs to expand and consequently less oxygen in your system than your body needs on exertion causing dizziness. I hope this helps and that you get the reassurance you need from your healthcare team x

[Tigress]

Hi, I am 22 weeks pregnant (second pregnancy) and have the same symptoms. The breathlessness is normal because your insides are having to move around to cope with your growing baby and so it can put pressure on your lungs so try not to worry about that it will get easier once your body has sorted itself out. The dizziness is also quite common but I would get checked for low iron and/ or just try eating high iron foods for a few days. If this helps then you know that you may be/ have been a bit anaemic (low iron in blood). This may mean you get a bit constipated so try to eat plenty of fibre/ folic acid to balance it out!

Just a note but if it doesn't help I would suggest you ask your GP/midwife to check your iron stores-this is NOT the same as anaemia but is obviously related-you can have low iron stores without being anaemic but it can cause dizziness/ headaches. I wasn't anaemic in my first pregnancy but my iron stores were critically low. Unfortunately on a number of occassions I've told health professionals about this and they look completely blank so I get the impression that they don't routinely check this!

For a bit of reassurance though my son was born with no problems and I've been fine I just keep an eye on what i'm eating (iron wise).

[Hbaby1]

Hello .

I am now 25 weeks and have been experiencing breathlessness too . I have read that as the uterus rises , it can squash the stomach and lungs . This makes sense as my appetite has shrunk compared to what it was five weeks ago . But I am hungrier more often . I have also read that the heart is working harder to pump 50 % more blood around the body , this could be the cause of dizziness . I have had dizzy spells from the start , my iron levels are " brilliant " according to my blood tests . Not sure about the protein levels , but if I had any worries I'd call the midwife .

Hope I have helped , I think the key is try not to worry ! All the best . X