Hellobee Boards

I'm nervous about this-- I'm always borderline when I give blood (it's high enough half of the time), so I think I'll have to add iron pills, too. My blood test is next Monday, so we'll see...

@Mrs. D: My glucose tolerance test results showed that my iron levels were low so by OB told me to take an additional iron supplement. She also mentioned that taking those iron supplements will harden your stool so recommended me to up my fiber as well.

ugh, i'm nervous about this too, especially since i have twins. but my doctor is making me wait to test when i do the glucose test next year. (1/2/12 hehe).

I did and like you took iron pills. Try to get as much as you can now through the pills and your diet because after I gave birth me levels were so low that they wanted to give me a blood transfusion.

I had low iron levels (a 7) too. So they had me on iron supplements. The only problem was that it caused constipation so I also took Colace for that. After the baby was born, my iron levels were still slightly low but not low enough for me to have to take iron pills.

not only am I anemic with this pregnancy, but I also have a clotting disorder already, ha. so I'm with you. I've been taking iron pills since my glucose results came back, which is when they tested for my iron levels as well I guess. I don't know how low my levels are/were, though.

I had to take an iron supplement after the birth of my son. I took something called Floradix and it didn't cause any constipation, which is something I struggle with normally while on iron pills. If you can't find Floradix and you become constipated, try adding some ground flax to your diet.

Yup, I just had my glucose screen and iron test today. Four weeks ago, my iron was at 14. Today it was at 9. They told me to go on iron supplements and gave me lots of iron rich foods to eat. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of foods on the list that I like...guess I'll be eating a lot of nuts and nut butters.

My OB automatically started me on 325 mgs ferrous sulfate at 19 weeks. My naturemade supplement is 65 mgs of Iron, which the label says is comparable to above. And make sure not to take the supplement with calcium! It inhibits absorption.

OB said around the halfway point is when the body really starts ramping up blood volume, so that's why levels often tank in the 2nd tri.

@mediagirl: I was surprised to find that a lot of grains are enriched with iron these days....most breads and pastas have about 10%. and I've started snacking on cornflakes....45% RDA of Iron! I'm not a red meat eater, so I've been hunting alternative sources.