Anemia- advice and strategies for resolving it? - Page 2

[~pi]

I've found that fish oil is very helpful to counteract the other effects. I want to take it anyway for all the other health benefits, anyway, but having that concern is a great additional incentive. I also make more of a point to drink lots of water when I am taking iron supps, and recently added a very tiny amount of psyllium husk to my nuts & seeds mix. I think that may be helping as well, but it's tough to separate out all the individual efforts at this point. Something is working, anyway.

Great to hear you are feeling better already. I find I really notice a difference, too. It's wonderful when that anemic exhaustion goes away, though it always makes me realize how awful I had been feeling and not really noticing!

[emmaegbert]

Thanks Pi... I do take an algal DHA supplement already (vegetarian) and have been upping that dose anyway, maybe I'll go a little higher. I have literally NEVER had a problem with constipation in my life (a benefit of being a vegetarian? I eat a lot of roughage already) but I think I'll go back to eating some chia seed porridge in the mornings, maybe that will help too...

[saoirse2007]

I have the most kileer hemeroids that I am trying to keep in check...ugh

I ran out of omega 3 capsuls a while back will buy more asap if it will help!!!

when I do poop it is like trying to s**t out a flippin' doorknob!!!

bring on the iron...ouch

[saoirse2007]

the midwife called back with the results...did not say #s but told me to take floradix 2x daily 15ml

maybe i should try a little more at the start...

[Amy May]

Saoirse- yikes... good luck to you!  I know you didn't mean that to be funny, but it does seem like you are able to take things in stride.. hope you feel better soon! 

The thing about pooping doornknobs also got me thinking... you know how in hospitals many women are simply told to start pushing as soon as they hit this magic number of 10 centimeters?  I haven't had a baby yet, but I certainly intend to wait until I have the urge to push.  To me, that sounds like trying to poop before you have the urge to go.  Totally futile.  OK, so that isn't that related...

[saoirse2007]

I got my numbers Hemo 114 and ferratin 8
I googled and think hemo is ok but fe low
I hope it sorts itself out with the floradix
I also bought vita c 500mg to take with it and wondering if I should take a full pill with each dose or split the pill in 2...

And to boot I have my first ever yeast infection and baby is measuring 95th %ile so the midwife hinted gd ....grrr

Just when they agreed to a homebirth I am freaking a bit

[Pynki]

I thought I would chime in here quickly even though I'm not in your DDC.  I suffer from chronic anemia.  It gets pretty bad while I'm pregnant.  Floradix 2x's a day brings my numbers from 9-10 to 11-12 within a week or two.  It's a pretty good jump, and I've never had another supplement work nearly as effectively. 

It's expensive, but it does work, and work very well. 

[emmaegbert]

So I think the magnesium (600mg a day in the AM, plus sometimes more in the PM) plus the Omega-3 supps are helping. And all the dark leafy greens I am eating... constipation not really settling in, though I would say the whole experience is less, shall we say... smooth... than I would like.

Originally Posted by Amy May 

The thing about pooping doornknobs also got me thinking... you know how in hospitals many women are simply told to start pushing as soon as they hit this magic number of 10 centimeters?  I haven't had a baby yet, but I certainly intend to wait until I have the urge to push.  To me, that sounds like trying to poop before you have the urge to go.  Totally futile.  OK, so that isn't that related...

Amy May, totally true. Its not that unrelated b/c, at least for me, the urge to push feels a bit like the worst, biggest, most urgent poop you've ever had to do! Its not *exactly* like that, but by far the closest thing I could compare to.
 

Originally Posted by saoirse2007 
And to boot I have my first ever yeast infection and baby is measuring 95th %ile so the midwife hinted gd ....grrr

Just when they agreed to a homebirth I am freaking a bit

Saoirse2007, I had a HB and GD with my second. GD shouldn't necessarily risk you out of HB (at least mild GD that can be diet-controlled). I am fully expecting to develop GD this time around. If you suspect a problem, I would say, ask MWs to give you a prescription for strips and get a meter and start self-monitoring. You can see how your post-prandial (post-meal) numbers are, and figure out what you can eat and keep them in normal/healthy ranges. Its not that hard to get used to doing it and many people without other underlying metabolic/endocrine problems can control with diet. Its one more freaking thing to think about, but you can get used to it.

Originally Posted by Pynki 

I thought I would chime in here quickly even though I'm not in your DDC.  I suffer from chronic anemia.  It gets pretty bad while I'm pregnant.  Floradix 2x's a day brings my numbers from 9-10 to 11-12 within a week or two.  It's a pretty good jump, and I've never had another supplement work nearly as effectively. 

It's expensive, but it does work, and work very well. 

This is exciting to hear! B/c the amounts listed don't seem so high on the Floradix... I ordered the capsules so when the liquid runs out I'll try those too. They seem a little less expensive plus I am not crazy about the taste of the liquid. I am taking straight-up iron supps as well but am doing the floradix. I imagine we'll do another blood draw at my prenatal next week and see if there has been any improvement.
 

[Pynki]

Originally Posted by emmaegbert 

This is exciting to hear! B/c the amounts listed don't seem so high on the Floradix... I ordered the capsules so when the liquid runs out I'll try those too. They seem a little less expensive plus I am not crazy about the taste of the liquid. I am taking straight-up iron supps as well but am doing the floradix. I imagine we'll do another blood draw at my prenatal next week and see if there has been any improvement.
 

I was concerned that it wouldn't work well because the amounts listed for the vitamins do not seem high at all, especially when you compare it to other iron supplements.  I think that in the case of the floradix, the iron in conjunction with the vit C and B vits is so bio readily available that most of it does get absorbed and used by the system  instead of being passed out of the digestive system. 

Best of luck at your next blood draw!
 

[Dreamy]

Thought of this thread after my appointment this morning.

At 14 weeks, my levels were 111 (11.1 in the US I guess), so I started taking Floradix. I was taking 3 capsules after lunch (22.5 mg), and 30mg liquid at bedtime with vitamin C and orange juice. Retested my levels at 26 weeks and I went DOWN to 108 (10.8). So while my doctor was willing to give the Floradix a try, she now wants me to take Palafer twice a day (600mg ferrous fumarate, equivalent to 200mg elemental iron).

The ingredients are disgusting (sodium lauryl suphate? talc???), but at this point I just want to get those levels up for the baby's sake, and I no longer have time to experiment with alternatives

Here I was wondering why I still feel so out of breath when standing up after taking all that Floradix. It was freakin' expensive too.

[AKislandgirl]

I've been taking MegaFood's Blood Builder. I really started to feel better after just a few days of taking it. My sister had the same results. I take 2 capsules per day. I will have my iron levels tested at my next appointment but before taking it I felt like I could barely put one foot in front of the other by afternoon. I'm back to feeling pretty normal.

[dot1]

Just thought I'd chime in.  Same thing going on here with low hemoglobin.

Floradix is best absorbed on an empty stomach...why they say to take before meals.  Very tolerable on an empty stomach for me.

They also make "Floravit" which is a yeast and gluten free version of the same thing.

[nicolian]

I was tested at my last appt, 2 weeks ago, and mine was a 10. Surprisingly, I haven't been super symptomatic. I do get a little winded but nothing serious. I've been instructed to take Flouridix  twice a day. It's important to try to avoid large amounts of calcium around the time you take the iron, from what I understand. It can inhibit the absorption.

[~pi]

Dreamy, that is exactly what I take (same dosage) and it does work for me. Floradix never brought my levels up enough, either. My midwife told me that in her experience, she has seen Floradix work for supporting women maintain iron, but not increase it. (Though she recommends something other than palafer, but because I travel so much, I need something that is shelf stable and doesn't need to be kept in the fridge. Also, palafer is covered, so it's much cheaper.)

[emmaegbert]

this reminds me to call and ask for my blood draw results (several weeks ago now). I assume they would have called if it was a problem- but I had it done at a different lab b/c I am out of town for summer. I am feeling generally much better. I continue to take the iron pills (went for a health food store brand w/out any other ingredients) and the floradix pills, 2x per day, calcium at night... I have a bunch of competing things I am dealing with through diet/supplements so trying not to make myself crazy, but I figure if I spread out the iron and consciously separate it from the calcium, that ought to help. I assume the MWs will want one more anyway close to term just to double check, but I am really hopefuly this one will be better.

[StephandOwen]

At my last blood draw, I was anemic too. I've been taking Slow-Fe (Kroger brand) twice a day for the last 4 weeks and I feel so much better! I don't know if they're going to re-check my levels or not. I didn't think to ask either....

[Dreamy]

Originally Posted by nicolian 

I was tested at my last appt, 2 weeks ago, and mine was a 10. Surprisingly, I haven't been super symptomatic. I do get a little winded but nothing serious. I've been instructed to take Flouridix  twice a day. It's important to try to avoid large amounts of calcium around the time you take the iron, from what I understand. It can inhibit the absorption.

I was taking Floradix twice a day, over the recommended amount, with Vitamin C, on an empty stomach. Calcium was never taken within two hours of it - and my levels still went down.

[durafemina]

Just wanted to chime in and say I've used spatone in pregnancy and also for clients (see sig) and it is absolutely wonderful - effective, gentle, natural and so so easy to take. It's basically iron-rich mineral water from a spring in Wales! The only downside is the packaging is a little wasteful IMO. . .but I guess something's gotta give.

It bumped me right back in HB range last time and I have it on order now (Hb is 108, ferritin is 13 and I feel like crap!) - crossing my fingers the mail comes soon. I live in Canada and it was fairly easy to find (on-line store, I just googled) although not in any of the HFS in the small city where I live. You can take 2 doses a day to really boost iron and it seems to help rapidly. I always feel like the last thing anyone needs in pregnancy is a hard-to-absorb and constipation inducing supplement.

[durafemina]

also if you like homeopathics, ferrous phosphate 6 taken 3x daily is a useful addition to iron supplementation