Got the labs

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I hope your posting had a mistyping. A hemo of 5.4 is extremely low and

certainly is on the " doorstep " of having a tranfusion or at least a few more red

blood cells. I think that " normal " for a woman is about 13.5. So please assure

you have the correct information and if so maybe a retest to assure accuracy.

I have had iron therapy and while it didn't cause any ill effects it was also

not very effective. How about a dinner of liver and onions about twice a week?

Barring nutritional deficiency for a long period, a daily multi-vitamin can

also help there providing iron, copper and chromimum and zinc, the next issue

could be easily a source of internal bleeding. That could be investigated with

first a fecal hemocult test, then a lower GI, then a upper GI. That's a long

road to begin.

I certainly hope you just have a case of misinformation.

Best wishes, Poncho - GA

[Guest guest]

Well I finally called the doc office and they said my labs were sent

on Feb 15. They must have gotten lost in the mail and I asked the

nurse to please resend them and she will. She did tell me that my

hemoglobin was 5.4, that is really low and they reccomend iron

therapy. Yuck! My A1c was 6.5, so I need to be more concientious

of my blood sugars but my C-peptide was 1.5 and that is really

great; so the islets are doing fine. I didn't ask about the hepatic

panel, wish I had, but hopefully I will get the all results soon.

Are any of ya'll on iron therapy? What do you take? I know I haave

had tons of patients on iron therapy and they always complain of

stomach pain and constipation and often stop taking the iron because

of that. The last thing I need is more intestinal difficulties

since my guts are still healing from all that anastomosis and

rearranging.

If anybody can suggest a good source of iron thats not too nasty or

difficult to take, I would really appreciate it. I hope every body

is doing well.

Warmly,

[Guest guest]

christine,

They should admit you overnight and do an iron transfusion for a

level that low. They did that to me when I got down to 8.1

I know it is something to be very cautious, and they did it slowly

but I could feel an immediate difference. And it has been good ever

since (2 years later).

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I also want to say that a hemoglobin level of 5.4 is dangerously

low. You should be having signs and symptoms if this is a true

number. That is, you should be very, very pale, out of breath, and

having vision problems (tunneled vision - darkness at the

periphery with only the center working) and maybe even some

mental confusion.

When I had my bad surgery, I went down to around 6 I think, and I

had two units of packed RBCs transfused. The doctors were

quite adamant that this had to be done (because of my

background I was hesitant to accept blood at first, I didn't want to

sign the consent).

I guess, my advice is if you are not showing any S&Ss of this, you

can probably handle this on your own but if you are, you need to

get back to your doctor soon........and maybe this explains your

blood sugar levels? You also need to figure out why your

hemoglobin is so low. Usually this is seen when there is no

RBC production, or too high RBC consumption or you are having

a hidden bleed somewhere......Compare the hemoglobin with

your hematocrit...they should support each other. If the heme is

this low, your crit should be in the low 20s or even high teens I

think. Also see what your RBC count is. If the heme is the only

odd one, then I would think it is a mistake.

Laurie

[Guest guest]

,

I have had to do iron therapy before. The prescription iron really

constipated me. The iron that works best for me is Feosol. The carbonyl kind not

the

sulfate kind. It seemed to absorb better since I have malabsorption issues due

to my gastric bypass. It seemed to not bother my tummy as much. When I got

really low right before and after my hysterectomy in October they put me back on

the prescription iron and it constipated me again. As soon as my iron came

back up I went back to the Feosol. My mom in law works for Glaxo-kline so

she gets it for me really cheap. That helps alot also! One other thing I learned

from my gastric bypass doc was to take Vitamin C with my iron and it absorbs

better.

Hope this helps,

Angie in SC

" The happiest of people don't necessarily have the

best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along

their way. "