So here is my story...I had a stomach bug a few weeks ago and have never felt quite right and put it down to the pregnancy.

Fast forward a few weeks and here I am, very weak, I get lightheaded when I stand, if I talk a lot to a coworker, I feel as though I have to catch my breath. I am very concerned as I didn't go through this with my DS.

I can't even stand the thought of meat. If I try to eat it, it feels like it gets "hung" in my throat. I plan on calling dr but so scared about being dismissed as s hypochondriac like I was a few weeks back. I can't continue to function like this. I have a job and a son who needs his mom. I am supposed to be at a decent energy level.

Last night I looked up the symptoms and was amazed to discover that I'm complaining of six of them:
fatigue
loss of concentration
insomnia
headache
irritability
and there's another I can't remember..oh right dizziness.

I know it is affecting my work performance even though nothing has been said to me. I don't know if I should bring it up to my boss but I know I will if they see me and conclude I am anemic. *sigh* I don't know what to do right now...I just can't think straight!

UPDATE: Well, I got back to work just to have to be called back to the dr office. The did a more in dept eval on me. My hgb count came back at 11.6 (I honestly feel that to be low for me but they thought it was fine?)

Basically I got told that I HAVE to eat every two hours (I didn't do that with my son) but I guess this baby is very demanding!!

I had all these symptoms before i got pregnant as well as my hair was thinning! i was found to have low ferritin and i was told that might be why i wasnt concieving (id been trying for 6 months at that point). i was started on ferrous sulphate and started feeling much better (and got BFP!). x

My Iron was 14 at my last physical which is healthy range for a normal woman. I know the now the range for a pregnant woman should be 18 to 27 mg hb/100ml of blood...

u will need a blood test to confirm if you are anemic or not. if u are in the uk u can go see your midwife about a test.if not ask a dr to perform one.feeling out of breath could be a sign or maybe your blood pressure is low.hope u find out either way whats going on.xx

I went to the hospital last night after ringing the midwife as i keep getting the symptoms you have plus really bad plapatations, had loads of blood tests and they said that i am anemic and advised me to get Sanatogen mother to be tablets this has 100% of your daily iron that you need and to also try and get iron tonic but i didnt fancy that - Ive got to go to the docs next week about the palpatations, so hopefully its just connected to the lack of Iron.

I would definatley call your doctor your not being a hypochondriac, i felt like that too and have left it over 2 weeks and yesterday i thought i was going to die (bit over the top) but was horrible

Hope you feel better soon xxxx

Im sorry youre feeling like this!

Im pretty sure theres an easy way to see if youre anemic - have your iron/hemoglobin tested. I think you should call your doctors office today, explain your symptoms again and DEMAND that your hemoglobin levels be tested. I assumed this was done standard during every pregnancy.

Regarding meat, red meat is the best way to get iron in your diet, but you can also eat a lot of beans, dark green leay veggies, and of course you can take iron in your supplements.

Good luck!

You should definately contact your doc or midwife and get a blood test. Im anaemic and all I get symptom wise is extreme tiredness but Ive had it in the past and felt faint with it. Irritability, headaches and loss of concentration might be a bi product of anaemia. Im not sure (not something that Ive had so I dont know).

Dont worry about feeling like a hypochondriac. if you are anaemic you are best getting iron supplments prescribed asap to make you feel better. (you will likely have to come off any prenatals whilst on iron otherwise you will get too much) x

Thanks Jucakey...to ease your mind palpitations was a symptom but I honestly can't tell if I'm having it lol

Yes it would need to be higher during preg and ideally not borderline, as we increase blood levels dramatically and so the iron would be more...diluted if you will. So we need more hemoglobin to move the oxygen around in all that extra blood. I would get retested.

I was going to ask for it on wednesday as I go for defects blood work but there is zero chance I can wait that long. I am a "functioning" insomniac and I'm not functioning at all now. It is all I can do to keep my head up right now!!