Hello all! I am not pregnant yet, but plan on TTC in a few months. I have been taking a prenatal vitamin for about a week now. I’m taking [name_f]Rainbow[/name_f] [name_m]Light[/name_m] Prenatal One, which is plant-based, all natural, and vegan.
For the past 3-4 days, I’ve started feeling very jittery and sometimes lightheaded and shaky. I’ve also had trouble sleeping at night. I can’t think of anything in my life that has changed other than taking these vitamins. Have any of you had similar side effects with prenatals, and how did you deal with it? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think taking multiple smaller vitamins instead of one big vitamin per day might be easier on my body? I can’t imagine that switching to a non-plant-based vitamin would help, but I’m willing to try just about anything. I am not vegan, so any other prenatal vitamin recommendations don’t have to be vegan.
I take Target up&up brand prenatal vitamins. I have never had any problems with them. Only when I had morning sickness, I couldn’t take them on an empty stomach because they would cause me to throw up. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you take them in the morning or evening? If it is causing trouble sleeping, try the morning. Sometimes certain brands can make you feel sicker than others, so I would imagine there could be other side effects. Try switching brands, because I don’t think they should have that much effect on you!
My prenatals are a prescription so it’s possible they might be a little different but my first couple days I had a bit of queasiness. I now take them at night right before bed and have no issues since then. My mom had the same issue when she was pregnant with me and also took her prenatal at night and didn’t have any more problems. If I were you I would still probably change the pills you take because those seem like really abnormal symptoms.
Huh. You don’t have any allergies? Sometimes the B-vitamins can give me a bit of a buzz. They tend to be yeast-derived, so if you have a yeast sensitivity maybe that could be an issue? High doses of niacin can make your skin all red and tingly… yikes. Are you taking any other supplements? Too much vitamin A can cause dizziness, and if you’re getting it from multiple supplements it can overwhelm your system… Have you ever taken the vegan algae-based omega-3s before this? I don’t know if that’s something that people typically have adverse reactions to, but if your body’s unaccustomed to high doses of algae, I wonder if that might be irritating? I’m a big fan of getting A, D and omegas from cod liver oil. Algae creeps me out - no logical reason. I just feel like the amount of algae the supplement companies need to process to get the same omegas I’d consume from eating a piece of fish is [name_m]WAY[/name_m] more algae than a normal human would eat. Of course if you were going to start taking cod liver oil it would be important to avoid overdosing on the A in your prenatal…
Maybe you should just try switching brands?
I was taking the gummy Target Up&Up brand, and switched to the rainbow light brand after I found out I was pregnant, because the Target brand didn’t have iron. I can’t say for sure as everything makes me throw up these days, but if you want the folic acid and vitamins, try taking two Children’s Flinstones Chewables. Or compare vitamin brands at the drugstore… As long as you have 400 mg of folic acid.
Thanks, all. I think I am going to give it until the end of the week before switching brands. My side effects seemed to abate after I ate lunch, so possibly I just need to take it with food. I think I’m going to take it with lunch, starting tomorrow.
@[name_f]Emma[/name_f], I don’t have any known food allergies and I don’t take any other supplements. Also, this one doesn’t have omega-3s. I am pretty confused about the whole thing. I never had this problem with multivitamins, though I admittedly didn’t take them regularly for long periods of time. One forum suggested that the problem could be iron, as these vitamins contain 30mg, which seems like a lot. I might go for one with lower iron, especially considering I get a decent amount of iron from my regular diet.
@Dindlee that’s a fair point. I am sure I will need the iron once I’m pregnant. Maybe I will try one lighter in iron for pre-pregnancy and switch afterwards
I take the same ones and haven’t had an issue. However, I have always taken them with food. I actually started taking them at night early in my pregnancy as they didn’t help my nausea in the morning. My midwife recommended taking them with dinner instead, and I’ve had good luck with that.
