feeling weird

[lightinmyhands]

Got a question if anyone knows what could possibly be up with this--- i'm about 38 weeks and I've had two episodes so far that feel like a cross between low blood pressure and hypoglycemia.  last night it was so bad my knees were shaking uncontrollably and even though the thermostat said it was 77 i was pale, cold to the touch and could not get enough blankets on me.  these episodes leave me feeling like i could faint at any moment.  i did not experience this with my first two pregnancies and neither food nor drink seem to make a difference to the sensation.  i happened to be near the grocery store when this happened today and so I went and checked my blood pressure in case it is low bp and my bp which is normally for this pregnancy about 116/70something was 136/81, so obviously low bp isn't what is causing this.  has this happened to anyone else? any thoughts?  it's really kind of a frightening feeling.   DH is suggesting that it may just be hormones....??.....

[indignantgirl]

Could it possibly be anemia?  During my recent pregnancy I began having faint spells, where I would just have sudden bouts of extreme weakness, shakiness, and lightheadedness.  I had originally suspected low blood sugar as I've had spells of hypoglycemia and it felt similar, except that eating didn't make me feel better.  I didn't have my blood checked so I don't know for SURE what it was, but I suspected anemia and began taking steps toward correcting this, using liquid chlorophyll and yellow dock root.  I felt better overall within a couple of days and I didn't have another faint spell the rest of my pregnancy.

Also, make sure you are well hydrated, although I'm sure you've already thought of that! :)

[lightinmyhands]

thanks so much for the anemia suggestion... i looked into it and I have nearly every symptom and the experience I had last night leads me to believe that it isn't just a mild case of anemia... I'm going to increase my iron intake and eliminate all food and beverage that decreases iron absorption and hope that helps.  

[tessie]

Originally Posted by lightinmyhands 

thanks so much for the anemia suggestion... i looked into it and I have nearly every symptom and the experience I had last night leads me to believe that it isn't just a mild case of anemia... I'm going to increase my iron intake and eliminate all food and beverage that decreases iron absorption and hope that helps.  

It might be worth getting your levels checked? If you don't want to take normal iron supplements then Floradix is supposed to be very good and has the bonus of not being constipating.

[lightinmyhands]

I don't have health insurance or a gp so getting my levels checked would be difficult and quite costly.  However, I have started taking liquid chlorophyll and it is not constipating either.  From what I've read I should feel better within a day or two of taking the Chlorophyll.  I've also stopped consuming things that block iron absorption and increased my iron containing foods such as prunes and beets.  :)

[seraf]

I get dizzy spells when I'm pregnant in the summer. Mine seems to be tied to dehydration. My last pregnancy I was in nursing school so the other girls were quick to check my sugar, bp and pulse with every episode. My pulse is generally above 100 during the spells which takes meimmediately to increasing my water. It isn't a quick fix. If you do have more, you seem to know the usual suspects.

Good luck feeling better.

[lightinmyhands]

initially we had suspected dehydration or hypoglycemia, but the symptoms were more varied and more intense.  I seem to be doing quite a bit better after a couple of doses of liquid chlorophyll and some rare steak.  

[indignantgirl]

Glad to hear you maybe be having some improvement already!  I hope you have the same speeding recovery I did.  Those faint spells were so scary, especially since I was pregnant.   I'd never taken chlorophyll before (or been anemic) so I couldn't believe how fast I started feeling better.   If you have access to herbs, a very strong tea (decoction, really, taking 1/4-1/2 cup a day) of yellow dock root can also be very beneficial. 
 

[lightinmyhands]

i'm still pretty fatigued and very short of breath.. this is miserable.  it's all i can do not to cry all day.  unfortunately i have not been able to locate anywhere locally to get medicinal herbs so yellow dock root is not in my future....drinking the chlorophyll 3 times a day hoping for the best.

[ursusarctos]

Can you get Floradix? I think it's available in pretty much every health food store as well as Whole Foods. It's been great for me. I definitely feel the difference in my energy level when I am taking it, and it's non-constipating. I was also mildly anemic in the middle of pregnancy (hemoglobin was 10.8) but it went right up after I doubled the Floradix dosage for 4 weeks.

Also, do you have time left (not sure how far along you are) to order some Yellow Dock tincture online? Mountain Rose Herbs is one good herb site. They have almost any herb you can think of and they ship quickly.

Rare steak is great too That was another thing I changed somewhat... I had had a meat aversion but I made an effort to add more to my diet and I'm sure that made a difference too. Also some liver if you can stomach it.

Hope you start feeling better soon!

[lightinmyhands]

The chlorophyll is also a non constipating excellent source of iron, just from what i hear, a whole lot less expensive than the floradix.  I am not sure how far along i am, so I  don't know if the tincture would have time to get here... according to my original dates I am due august 13th, but I've been measuring 3-4 weeks ahead.  i also lost my plug last week, dropped a few weeks ago, and have been slowly dilating and effacing for the past week as well.  Could be tomorrow, could be next month!  The not knowing is much harder with as awful as I feel... really sucking the joy out of being pregnant.  

Red meat has been making me really ill this entire pregnancy but I decided the other day I didn't care and had a rare steak anyhow (which was a treat as I've really been missing bloody hardly cooked steak)

My iron levels had to be really pretty low with as scary and terrible as that feeling i had the other day was..... I'm trying to wait patiently for the chlorophyll to work, but i am desperate to have the energy to get out of bed and to not be so terribly short of breath all of the time.

[ursusarctos]

Ah ok, I didn't know the chlorophyll was actually a source of iron itself - I thought it just helped your body make hemoglobin or something. I hope it starts making a difference!

[indignantgirl]

Originally Posted by lightinmyhands 

i'm still pretty fatigued and very short of breath.. this is miserable.  it's all i can do not to cry all day.  unfortunately i have not been able to locate anywhere locally to get medicinal herbs so yellow dock root is not in my future....drinking the chlorophyll 3 times a day hoping for the best.

I was very fatigued and short of breath, and during the worst of it I'd get random spells of weakness where it felt like all the strength was going out of my body and it was all I could do to get to a place to sit down.  Funny that the previous poster mentioned getting over her aversion to meat.  I've been a vegan for almost 11 years and never had any problems until this pregnancy, when I started craving eggs like a mo fo.  I would dream about them every night for months, just diving into a big skillet of scrambled eggs, or sopping up the yolk with some toast.  I'd wake up and obsess over eggs for hours in the middle of the night.  I didn't give in to the cravings and I really wish I had, because it might have prevented the anemia.  There had to be a reason my body wanted eggs!

If you think you'll use it (I can send directions on making it) I can send you some dried yellow dock root from Mountain Rose, enough to make about a quart of decoction.  That would last at least a couple of weeks since it's quite strong.  I don't really have need for it right now.  If you're interested just PM me your mailing address. :)

[tessie]

Originally Posted by ursusarctos 

Ah ok, I didn't know the chlorophyll was actually a source of iron itself - I thought it just helped your body make hemoglobin or something. I hope it starts making a difference!

I think you're right in that it isn't a source of iron.

At this point I'd be concerned that you'e not going to have the energy to get through labor and the pp period. Is there really nobody you can see? If not, I really would advise trying a better source of iron.

Hope you start to feel better soon. I do sympathise. When I had low iron post baby even a short walk felt like a mile uphill in a foot of snow. It definitely made the pp sleep deprivation harder to cope with.

[lightinmyhands]

some sources say it is a source of iron, while others say it is not.  I am however feeling much better these days and have since located a local source for yellow dock root and added that as well as kelp daily.  My energy is back, my shortness of breath is gone (except for the normal baby squishing lungs feeling), and I haven't felt faint or dizzy in a few days now.  I'm actually not very much minding the end of pregnancy now that I've built my blood up a little bit.  The liquid chlorophyll has also been amazing in that it's done wonders to fight my systemic yeast infection that pregnancy seems to exacerbate.  I did have an appointment with a midwife just to check on things and help give me a better idea of my dates.  She says baby is head down, heart beat is good and I should expect a baby any day now.  She also said the liquid chlorophyll and yellow dock is what she would recommend for iron, and of course eating more iron rich foods.  I do feel so much better having had the reassurance of that appointment with her.   

[ursusarctos]

That's great! I was actually thinking about you, random stranger online, and wondering how you were doing I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! How exciting that you're so close to giving birth!

[sara-on-the-lake]

Glad to hear you're feeling better and that the midwife is helping to give you some confidence/relief. 

I take Florodix, but all this kelp, chlorophyll, yellow dock talk has me wondering if I should look into them as well.

[indignantgirl]

A note/question about Floradix...  I used the chlorophyll and yellow dock because I like "food" forms of iron.  I was under the impression that the iron in Floradix is just the regular vitamin iron stuff, and that what you get from the herbs in Floradix is negligible.  I think for a lot of women it's a really great option since it works well for them.  But I have not had good luck with supplements containing iron in the past and have no personal experience with Floradix (it's so expensive!); that's why I suggested the chlorophyll and yellow dock to the OP. 

Does anybody know whether Floradix is different than a liquid iron pill with herbs added in?  I looked into it when pg and I saw that it had b-vitamins in it, but is there a reason it is so widely recommended for pregnant women besides not being constipating?

[tessie]

Originally Posted by indignantgirl 

A note/question about Floradix...  I used the chlorophyll and yellow dock because I like "food" forms of iron.  I was under the impression that the iron in Floradix is just the regular vitamin iron stuff, and that what you get from the herbs in Floradix is negligible.  I think for a lot of women it's a really great option since it works well for them.  But I have not had good luck with supplements containing iron in the past and have no personal experience with Floradix (it's so expensive!); that's why I suggested the chlorophyll and yellow dock to the OP. 

Does anybody know whether Floradix is different than a liquid iron pill with herbs added in?  I looked into it when pg and I saw that it had b-vitamins in it, but is there a reason it is so widely recommended for pregnant women besides not being constipating?

I think the main reason is just that it's not constipating. It tends to be gentler on the stomach as it contains ferrous gluconate rather than ferrous sulphate. However, ferrous gluconate contains less concentrated iron and it can take longer to build up your stores if you're severely anaemic. Spatone is also often recommended, but I don't think it's as widely available. 

OP, glad to hear you're feeling brighter.
 

[amberskyfire]

I have been having similar symptoms (not pregnant) and we are considering that it might be a thyroid issue. Do a search online for "thyroid symptoms" and see if any of the symptoms sound like what you might be experiencing. You can also do a self-check at home for your thyroid.