Beta Thal. Minor and iron supplementation in pregnancy

Thank you all very much!

They did another blood draw on Tuesday and I'm waiting for the serum ferritin results now.  I'll know more after I learn the actual iron levels.

Debbi

Hello

I am 32 Weeks Pregnant(thal minor) now and I had a recommendation of 50Mg of Iron Supplemtnation daily from my OB through tablet in my home country. I was told to stop taking folic acid when I started my iron.My Hemoglobin report taken two weeks back shows an improvement to 9.8 from the earlier report of 9.5 in my home country. The normal range for pregnant women shows 11.5 and above. I have just flown to USA now and I have a new doctor. Here there is a culture of prescribing Prenatal Tablets for all patients which contain all the multi vitamins. Now the precribed multi vitamin is the same which all normal pregnant women take( non thal minors). It contains 800mcg of folic aicd and 28 mg of iron only. I am concerned that my hemogolin level might drop further due to this low dossage. I am concerned about keeping a good level so that I can ensure a normal delivery. Please help.

Hi Roxiana,

Folic acid is advisable for thal minors at all times, including pregnancy, so this should never have been stopped. On the other hand, iron should only be taken when iron studies reveal deficiency.  28 mg is not a low daily dose of iron and may be more than you need. I would suggest iron studies be done to see if you need iron at all.

Hi,

I was diagnosed with thalessemia about a decade back. My avg Hb was 10. I'm 34 and 18 weeks pregnant now, was suffering intense fatigue(couldn't go to work) and got my Hb tested. It's 8. I take folic acid 5mg x 2 tablets a day. Had started calcium 500mg x 1, about 10 days back, but stopped after reading posts that it could interfere with iron absorption (also the Hb dropped after tarting calcium). Am now trying to have more milk instead. The fatigue situation shows some improvement now.
CBC results for other parameters are:
Leucocyte count: 10300
Packed cell volume: 26.2
MCV: 65.0
MCH: 20.1
MCHC: 31.0
RDW: 17.1
Lymphocytes: 8

Except leucocyte count which is higher than the range, others are lower than the range.
My doctor gets back after new year so I have to wait for her opinion till 5th Jan. would anyone have any ideas about what to make of my results?

After reading posts on this site, I got my serum ferritin tested, which indicates iron levels are ok.  My gynaecologist anyways feels that fatigue is normal, I don't see her doing anything extra for my thal.
What symptoms should I be alert for?

Thanks a lot,
Dolly