At my last doctor appt I was told I was borderline anemic and had low blood pressure. My dr just told me to eat more read meat and foods with iron in it. I've been trying to but I still feel tired all the time..though my dizziness has pretty much gone away. But now, a new symptom has popped up and it has me worried. I can't catch my breath. It's much worse when I'm up and moving about and even when I sit and rest it's hard. At first maybe I thought it may be because of my growing uterus but I'm only 22 weeks.

Anyway, my real question is how much iron is safe to take a day. My dr didn't prescribe me pills because he said it'll just make me constipated, but I really think I need them. My prenatals already have 28mg and last night I bought iron supplements that have 67mg. Is that too much together? Either way, I'm going to call my doctor but I kind of just wanted to see if taking more iron will help the situation first.

"The increased requirement during pregnancy cannot be met by the iron content of typical American diets nor by the existing iron stores of many women; therefore, the use of 30 to 60 mg of supplemental iron is recommended" This is from an fda webpage. Although the amounts you are now taking exceed this somewhat, I do not think it will hurt, but I would not increase it. Do let your doctor know about the shortness of breath, though, and if he is not concerned and you are still having difficulty catching your breath, go the the ER when the symptom is occuring and get checked out. Ask the doctor about the iron supplement as well. Please keep us posted on how you are doing. :-)