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Anyone want to troubleshoot me??

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  fireflies~for~me 
#1 ·
cross posted in the general forum;)
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30 weeks
planning second homebirth
AMA LOL I'm 42 and have been feeling totally awesome, on top of the world good until a few weeks ago

Shortness of breath, racing pulse, can't catch my breath, palps. Labwork shows Vit D deficiency so taking 5000 IU per day and anemia so I start immediately on liquid chlorophyll (I got confused and didn't buy Floradix but the World Organic liquid instead). I enjoy liver, so started eating organic chicken liver. Felt 90% better within a few days. Bps good, sugars good, pulse ox good.

Prenatal appt went fine, although she did hear a few missed and extra beats. Said she was not worried yet but could refer me to a cardiologist for a workup if I wanted (meaning to calm hubby's fears) I declined and she suggested switching to Flouradix since it usually works quite well.

4 days on Flouradix and I am sooooo nausesous I feel like I have vitamin overload Could it be possible, that my iron is now up and I am getting too much? Poops are blackish and I feel so gross. Aannd it made my acid reflux come back so I am burping up nasty herbal taste ick...no...I go back for more labwork so that will help know where we are at.

I hate feeling sick when I have felt so well. I don't like the out of control feeling it is giving me or the idea that I will not feel well through the end of this pregnancy.

Advice? Suggestions? Words of wisdom?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I'll post some thoughts...I am hypothyroid and have hashimoto's (at the moment) so I thought my heart palps were from my meds but turns out it's from adrenal fatigue. If I go to bed at or BEFORE 10pm...no heart palps. Oh and keeping stress low. I also have a tendency to have low vit D unless I supplement and am also anemic unless I really work at it. I am choosing not to take Floradix even though my mw suggested it when my iron was low at 12 weeks. Instead I did research and found an alternative to it called MegaFood Blood Builder. And just had my 28 week bloodwork done and iron is great! I also love and eat chicken liver so make sure to keep up w/ that.


Oh and I take vitamin C when I eat something high in iron or when I take my iron tablet. I also supplement with magnesium and B complex, which can help w/ stress and maybe heart palps (magnesium).


Good luck and hopefully you can figure out how to feel better
 
#3 ·
DDCC from July with a couple of thoughts since I had this too, early in the second trimester.

My iron was been awesome the whole time, so it wasn't that for me.

I do know that my adrenals aren't in the best shape, but I don't think it was that (though I suppose it could have contributed.)

When I asked Dr. Google, it seemed a VERY common complaint among pregnant women. Some of these women saw cardiologists and they checked out just fine. The doctors and cardiologists told them that it was due to the increase in blood volume.
There are a couple of points in pregnancy when blood volume increases more rapidly, I believe, and I think one of the times is around 28-ish weeks?

What was your vitamin D like? Which levels did you have tested? This D testing thing is tricky no matter what and it's different with every doctor you see, in my experience.
I've been seeing an internist, beginning at the start of this pregnancy (because I was borderline hypothyroid and wanted NDT for the baby's proper development) and she has some ideas unlike any doctor I've ever seen (and some I disagree with.)
One was regarding vitamin D. She focused not on 25-hydroxy D (25-OH-d) but 1,25 di-OH D (aka calcitriol) which is flip-flopped from everything I've ever read. All of the vitamin D talk out there focuses on 25-OH D. Mine was 37 back in November, and ideally, most people agree that over 50 is best.
But this doctor was freaking out over my 1,25 di-OH D being flagged as high (out of range by 1 point) and she said it was inflammation and I had an infection somewhere.

WELL, I came home and did a ton of research and found that in pregnancy, our bodies convert 25 OH-D (probably the one you had tested) to 1,25 di-OH D (the one I had that was "high.") All of this research showed that this conversion happened all throughout pregnancy and lactation and levels didn't even out until after weaning.

So in a nutshell, testing vitamin D levels in pregnant/lactating women isn't as straight-forward as it is when you're not pregnant/lactating because of this conversion.

I think my level of 37 in November was actually normal considering my pregnant body was obviously converting a lot of it to 1,25 di-OH D, like research shows it's supposed to.

Just some food for thought on the D thing.

I think magnesium can be really helpful in pregnancy (and always!) and it's one of those things that we're all chronically low in because the soil is depleted.
Supplementing with as many forms as possible usually offers the best increase in levels.
Topical is supposed to be one of the best methods for absorption and it won't cause digestive upset.
I use Ancient Minerals mag. oil - and especially if I'm having a lot of contractions, if I rub it right on my belly, it relaxes my uterus so much that it feels almost numb.
Epsom salt baths are so relaxing and a great way to absorb magnesium.
Orally, I take Natural Calm (magnesium citrate) which can cause diarrhea when you reach your tolerance level - but also eliminates constipation if that's an issue! I also take magnesium glycinate which has never caused diarrhea for me.
I don't think you can go wrong with magnesium supplementation; in fact, I'd even say that it's pretty much impossible to get "too much" magnesium nowadays.

And yes, like @treehugginhippie said, getting plenty of sleep will help with adrenals (I think everyone's are struggling these days), low stress and lots of vitamin C. Liver is also great for adrenals! I take Dr. Ron's adrenal supplement because in the second/third trimesters, if our adrenals aren't working optimally, we'll pull from baby's adrenals which leads to baby being born with already weakened adrenals. So making adrenal health a priority is a good thing! I know when I get plenty of sleep at night, I feel pretty good the next day and not enough sleep leaves me feeling ill in many ways.
I've also noticed that sun exposure = great sleep for me. Like 11 hours of solid sleep! Pure heaven....
 
#4 ·
Metasequoia, this is awesome info. I just re-read your post again today. Thank you! My Vit D was low, yes. I do think my adrenals are shot, and perhaps they should look at my thyroid again.

Overall though, my update is that I tweaked my vitamin regiman myself and I think I'm feeling better because of it. I stopped the Flouradix and the VIT D massive dose and went back to liquid chloropyll and my regular prenatal and only the iron and Vit D already it that and eating organic liver. I'm hoping that it upped my iron and that's why I am feeling better.

I did end up taking the cardiology referral and wore a 48 hour HOlter and am doing a heart echo today, so that should give us some info.

Last prenatal with my midwife went great though. Baby's heart sounds great. My BPs are good, pulse ox is good, sugars are good, so we are still planning our homebirth.
 
#5 ·
What do you guys think is the problem with floradix? I've been taking it and I haven't really felt any better for it to be honest, but my blood tests always come back fine. Did you stop because that was what was making you feel sick or because you found something out about it??? I'm taking vitamin D3 too, do you think it's not a good idea?

Glad you found the right combo and you are feeling better!
 
#7 ·
I'm curious what my levels are now, because I'm back to feeling great in that arena-yay! no more palps or shortness of breath aside from just feeling huge in the third trimester:) I even went in for a just to be safe cardiology referral (I'm also 42). Holter monitor showed normal. Echogram of my heart was normal. YAY!
 
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