In rust we trust
Feb. 25th, 2011 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j4An update on the iron situation, if anybody's interested: the results from Monday's blood test showed that my iron count was stable at 10 (without having been taking supplements), so I'm hopeful for an increase next week if I carry on drinking blood taking supplements and eating iron-rich food this week. Fortunately iron-rich foods are all really tasty. Clams! Who knew? Not that I have any clams, but still. Blackstrap molasses! Om nom nom!
Opinion seems to be divided on the question of liver, which is why I don't put much faith in opinion. It's currently not recommended in pregnancy (though the disrecommendation is a bit buried in that page, sorry) because vitamin A "could harm your baby if you have too much" ... but I've been struggling to find any actual scientific studies that even look at this, let alone conclude anything. (Anecdotally, I know that my mum was recommended to eat liver when she was pregnant with me because of the extra iron; but I also know that anecdotes are not data.)
BTW, when my GP told me the results of the blood test he reiterated that 10 was "really nothing to worry about", but was (as I suspected) surprised when I told him that the midwife had said that that was the cut-off point for allowing a home birth. He suggested upping the dose of the iron supplements he'd prescribed if I was worried, but he didn't have any opinion on Spatone or Floradix except that both were "worth a try".
Several of you recommended Floradix -- I've tried it and I'm afraid I think it's even more vile than Spatone! YMMV I guess. Hard to know which will work better though -- I suppose I should try each for a week, or something (while keeping diet more or less the same).
Sorry for such a boring post. :-} I would say "normal service will resume shortly" but I fear the boringness is becoming the norm....
Opinion seems to be divided on the question of liver, which is why I don't put much faith in opinion. It's currently not recommended in pregnancy (though the disrecommendation is a bit buried in that page, sorry) because vitamin A "could harm your baby if you have too much" ... but I've been struggling to find any actual scientific studies that even look at this, let alone conclude anything. (Anecdotally, I know that my mum was recommended to eat liver when she was pregnant with me because of the extra iron; but I also know that anecdotes are not data.)
BTW, when my GP told me the results of the blood test he reiterated that 10 was "really nothing to worry about", but was (as I suspected) surprised when I told him that the midwife had said that that was the cut-off point for allowing a home birth. He suggested upping the dose of the iron supplements he'd prescribed if I was worried, but he didn't have any opinion on Spatone or Floradix except that both were "worth a try".
Several of you recommended Floradix -- I've tried it and I'm afraid I think it's even more vile than Spatone! YMMV I guess. Hard to know which will work better though -- I suppose I should try each for a week, or something (while keeping diet more or less the same).
Sorry for such a boring post. :-} I would say "normal service will resume shortly" but I fear the boringness is becoming the norm....
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 05:33 pm (UTC)More important than anecdote != data is that medical advice changes :) My grandmother was recommended both to drink lots of Guinness to help her low iron in pregnancy, and to smoke mentholated cigarettes to help her bad chest. I don't recommend you do either of these (her children came out ok, but she died of emphysema).
Your mother is presumably younger than my grandmother, so further away fom the Dark Ages of medicine.
Of course, whether you choose to view the long list of pregnancy-forbidden foods as new and important medical advances or pointless and poorly evidenced mithering by the doctors of today is a different question :)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 05:48 pm (UTC)Of course, whether you choose to view the long list of pregnancy-forbidden foods as new and important medical advances or pointless and poorly evidenced mithering by the doctors of today is a different question
That's why I want to see actual evidence rather than just a list! A list of advice without any indication of the evidence is no better than just asking my Auntie Maureen[*]. (And evidence for one of the things on the list does not automatically make the rest of the list equally sound.)
[*] OK, it is marginally better because I don't actually have an Auntie Maureen.