Iron Supplements During Pregnancy

I had my 16 week appointment yesterday and everything is going well. I also had my blood work done and I have to waite a week to get that back.

So after I had my blood drawn I had my OB meeting, we listened the heart beat, he liked my weight gain and my blood pressure was good. He asked me if I had any questions and if anything has changed. I told him I stopped taking the prenatals wtih iron and I'm taking the prenatals without iron instead.  He said he was very concerned about that and that although I shouldn't take iron for myself I need to take it for the baby. He said my Hemoglobin will never be normal and it doesn't make sense to think it ever will be but as long as my Ferritin is not high that he thinks I need to take Iron for the baby.

Also I was asking if he thought my Thalassemia might have played a part in my preeclampsia and he said he thought it might. The way he described it is that swelling or edema is from cells leaking water. He said that since my red blood cells are tiny and misshaped it is very easy for them to leak. From there are all of the extra pressure on the blood vessels will cause the high blood pressure.

I thought this might help other people and someone might have more on this topic.

Hi,

Many women, including thal minors do need iron during pregnancy. If your ferritin becomes low, iron should be taken during the pregnancy, but only if a ferritin test shows a definite deficiency.  Because of this, regular ferritin tests should be done throughout the pregnancy.

The doctor's suggestion may have something to it, as the leaking is one of the things that adds to the clotting tendency as do the misshapen red cells. Any sign of thrombophilia (tendency towards clots) should be investigated. I refer back to my other post at http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=1399.msg11365#msg11365

Thrombophilia is responsible for spontaneous abortion and during pregnancy for preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, uteroplacentar apoplexy (abruptio placentae), intrauterine demise, premature birth and venous or arterial thrombosis. Women with presented conditions in medical history should be assessed for thrombophilia.

Since you do have the prior history of preeclampsia, testing for  thrombophilia is advised.

thanks andy!

i forgot about that part. i'll have to remember that for next week