Sunday, December 6, 2015

Shortness of Breath This Early in Pregnancy?

A few weeks ago, I found myself having trouble catching my breath doing the simplest things. At first I thought it was just being pregnant that brought on shortness of breath, but it wasn't like I was 8 months pregnant toting around a big ol' belly! Taking the stairs in my house, even slowly, felt like I had just sprinted for 15 seconds...and I was only 15 weeks along.

So I started googling. I know, that's the last thing "they" tell you to do, but in all seriousness, no one really knows your body like you do. Doctor's usually make educated guesses based on what you tell them and what's in your medical history. You can try to educate yourself and put the pieces together. So far, it's worked really well for me. Knock on wood!

I took Gestational Diabetes into consideration, but the symptoms are scarce and I didn't fall under any of the risk factors, especially since I've never had it.

Since the search results I got back were all over the place, and most just said "see your physician", I grabbed my Heart and Hands book, a midwife's guide to pregnancy, and started reading.

That's when I stumbled across it! There was a paragraph in the Anemia section that said to first check the pregnant woman for a vitamin B12 deficiency if there was shortness of breath, then if that didn't help, it was probably an Iron deficiency. It was like I struck gold! I hadn't been taking my vitamins consistently and I felt tired too. It could be both Anemia and B12, so I checked my VitaNatal Vitamins and found them loaded with B12 and Iron.

I started taking the recommended amount, which seems excessive, but it's 6 pills a day, 2 with each meal. I also started eating foods that helped with Iron absorption (foods high in vitamin C) and iron rich foods.

In 2 days, I started noticing that I wasn't noticing I couldn't breath! Plus my fatigue wasn't as bad. Now a couple weeks later, I'm still dedicated to keeping up on the vitamins and diet, and I feel SO much better. No shortness of breath, unless it's understandable, and I feel energetic.

On a side note, I looked at the prenatal pills my doctor gave me, and the B12 plus Iron is extremely low in 1 serving, and the recommended dosage is 1 pill per day. There's no way you'd get enough from 1 pill, especially since the amount absorbed by the body with a tablet is slim, especially if your diet isn't up to par.

I have learned don't underestimate a good vitamin! And being too tired to take care of myself is lame and a very bad excuse....

Fit N Fancy 4 Life,

~~Caroleena


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