worried about low hb

 I'm from Greece but I now live in Sudan. My hb used to be 11.4 before I got pregnant but now it's 9. I'm taking 5 mg folic acid and two osteocare tablets a day. Iron and ferritin arewithin normal range- even towards the high side- but the doctor told me to take iron supplements. I eat meat almost every day so I'm not sure the iron would be helpful. What else should I do? There's an absence of sophisticated tests and medical care in Sudan. Now I'm week 17 and I was thinking to return to Greece after 3 months.

Hello Arous and welcome to the site

As long as your serum iron and ferritin are in the normal levels, you should not take iron pills at all.

Are you a thalassemia minor??? If yes, taking vitamin E, B complex with folic acid will help you a lot in addition to a balanced diet. You are right, about the limited medical care in Sudan.

If you are a minor,i will advice you to read some of the posts we had about pregnancy and thalassemia minor

manal

thank you for your answers. I'll try to find out how much vitamin e and b vitamins are suitable for pregnancy. I read the pregnancy and thal minor. I'm happy you can give more informed advice than doctors here- they're not familiar with thal minor anyway. I'm hanging on but sometimes it seems so tough- I wish I'll be able to become strong like Zidane in the future!

Dear Arous,

Congratulations on your pregnancy   I know it can be scary to discover that your hg is so low during pregnancy, however it is not always a cause for concern.  There are several reasons why hg is lower during pregnancy, especially for thal minors.  First of all the overall volume of blood in the body increases considerably during pregnancy therefore the hg appears lower than it actually is and secondly mom's hg can drop as the baby consumes more energy and oxygen during pregnancy. 

My hg also dropped during my pregnancy and it increased back to normal once I had my children.  My hg dropped into the 80s during my second pregnancy and I needed a lot more rest and vitamins during this time.  I also saw a hematologist to monitor my levels during my second pregnancy. 

Best of luck and keep posting,

Sharmin

Hi Arous,

Congratulations on you pregnancy....

Dnt worry everything will be fine and if your Iron levels are ok then I dnt think you need to take extra iron tablets. Just take Folic Acid as its very imp to take  before and after pregnancy.

Im also pregnant right now at in my third trimester and at the start of my pregnancy my Hb level was 10. Low as per norm but ok as per being Thal Minor. My haemotoligist prescribed me 2.5mg of Folic acid along with my prenatals. I was taking Iron tablets before but he told me not to take as my iron numbers were ok. As I progressed in my pregnancy my Hb level dropped to 8 bcz of dilution but slowly I am catching up and by grace of God baby is doing fine and all results are coming ok. I know my RBC numbers are stable its only diluting bcz of pregnancy. So dnt worry take folic acid regularly and maintain a good diet and u will sail thru you pregnancy very well.

Manu

Hi Manu,

Thats a good news,


                           

I wish you safe delievery  .

Zaini.

hi
   Firstfull you are as thalas. minor you don't have to be worry if your hgb arround 9 my wife get pregnane 5 times and her hgb always around 9 but you have to be worry when it's drop to 8 have check up for your CBC every month also the serum feretin have good and fresh healthy food with alot of vegetable also continue with folic acid everyday don't forget the appele and fruits ...   that is't     but don't eat pizza because i don't like it 
                            khalifa
                        state of kuwait

Khalifa ,

 


Zaini.