Diabetes and HbA1c testing. Peer Group QC. Remote Support. Support Centre. Please note: Not all products are available in all countries. Please check availability. News and Events. Search for. About Us News and Events Who has the highest risk of developing anemia? About Us : News and Events. Who has the highest risk of developing anemia? The first step in diagnosing Pernicious Anaemia is almost always diagnosing a B12 deficiency. Who is most at risk for Pernicious Anaemia? Age Pernicious Anaemia is often considered to be a disease that affects the elderly.
A survey of of our members revealed the following: The age at the time of diagnosis of PA varied from less than 10 years 7 individuals to greater than 80 years 3 individuals. Genetics There is a strong family link in Pernicious Anaemia. Family member with PA. When to test for B12 deficiency? Read more about the diagnosis of Pernicious Anaemia. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.
Visit Cookie settings to provide a controlled consent. Read More. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Pregnancy causes some anemia. My mom has had smoldering myeloma for approximately 7 years now. Recently, she had a bone marrow aspiration because of a large drop in her hemoglobin, from She was rechecked two weeks later and it dropped to 9. The bone marrow did not show evidence of Myeloma at this point.
She was also tested for myodyplastic syndrome and this was negative as well. Doctor is stumped at this point. I believe blood loss is the most common cause of a sudden drop in hematocrit. If a person has normally functioning bone marrow, within a few days this should cause an increase in reticulocytes immature red blood cells , because the bone marrow will crank up red blood cell production in an attempt to compensate for the anemia.
In her case, the recheck was in the same range 9. Hi Doctor, In my hb was around 10 and I have diagnosed with ITP later in the month of April hb becomes 9 and in June July it got down into 8 and in the month of November it further reduced to 7.
I have done endoscopy and colonoscopy where they have found helicobacter pylori like Bacteria. Now I have pain and cramps in stomach also I have hemorrhoids internal and external which is bleeding for last 6 years. Now I am really worried please reply me. Sorry that you are having these symptoms and low red blood cell counts, it certainly does sound worrisome.
I am 77 years I have been getting procript injection for about 2 years every month then ever other month. I went and had a knee replacement and hemogloblin went from Then I had a blood transfusion which got it up to My iron is good. I can not receive any more procript as insurance won. My kidneys are at 40 percent. He says I am good but I still am concerned. Do you have any opinion? Procrit is epoetin, an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent. It seems that their target is based on their expert opinion and clinical experience, rather than on definitive randomized trials.
You should discuss your concerns with your usual healthcare providers, as they know you and will also have relevant experience managing anemia in people with CKD. If you are concerned about your hemoglobin dropping while you wait for your insurance to resume covering Procrit, I recommend letting your doctors know, and asking what would be a reasonable way to monitor for any worsening of anemia. My mom aged 46 is suffering from anemia 6. To increase blood levels.
So I would recommend asking for more information on how they plan to do that. Usually to reduce her bleeding, they would need to first determine what is causing such heavy uterine bleeding. For those who cannot tolerate oral iron, IV iron is sometimes required. Hello, and thank you for this useful information! I am a 66 year old woman and as a result of routine blood work done at my yearly physical, I found out that I have severe anemia.
The original HGB level was 7. Shortly after this diagnosis, I went to the hospital with a bowel obstruction my third , where I was given an infusion of iron.
I am currently taking ferrex and have had an EGD and colonoscopy, both of which were normal. My RDW is high at My B12 and folate are normal. Your thoughts, please.
Thank you so much. Please see this comment and the article below, regarding iron deficiency anemia when endoscopy is negative. It is not terribly rare, and you may eventually need additional evaluation. Outcome of endoscopy-negative iron deficiency anemia in patients above I would basically recommend you keep asking your doctors lots of questions as to what they think is going on, and what they plan to do next.
You may also want to consider a second opinion with either a hematologist or gastroenterologist. Shortness breath they say probably loss blood. I check motion. Can I take alternative like iron iamgood ateating food with iron just needed some one to. Talk with as I live alone no family now yourhelp would be appreciated Ruby.
For people with blood loss, iron is mainly helpful if they appear to be low on iron levels. If they tell you that you might benefit, but you might also be ok continuing as you are now, then you might feel better about what you are doing. Whereas if they strongly urge you to get further evaluation, you should take that under careful consideration. Especially if you have no family to help you think through this situation, you may want to see if you can find an online or in-person support group to help you.
You can connect with others who have a similar health condition at SmartPatients. Or a local center for older adults might have a group in which people can discuss health concerns and support each other. My 92 year old father has had a decrease in hemoglobin. I have limited information. I believe his baseline is 9. He complained of itching and the doctor where he lives in senior living ordered blood tests.
His hemoglobin came back 7. Apparently it was retested several days later and came back 6. The doctor wants to hospitalize him in order to do invasive tests to figure this out and after consulting with him and the rest of the family we have declined hospitalization. What steps can we ask the doctor to take within his current living environment to diagnose what is wrong and keep him comfortable?
We are not going to put him through anything invasive. I should mention he is in palliative care currently. Any information you could pass along would be greatly appreciated. It is often reasonable to decline hospitalization or try to avoid it if at all possible, for people in their 90s who live in a facility. In terms of what can be done at his residence, it depends on whether the doctor can come see him at his facility, to ask more questions about his symptoms and to examine him.
It would also be common, for someone with a dropping hemoglobin, for a clinician to check the stool for signs of microscopic blood.
In terms of keeping your father comfortable, we are often able to buy time and help someone feel better in the short-term by transfusing them with red blood cells. This is sometimes done in an infusion center or even in an emergency room, but might be hard to arrange at the residential facility itself. In terms of whether this is an end-of-life situation: if his hemoglobin keeps dropping, then yes, this is a life-threatening situation.
If he is palliative care right now, perhaps you can find someone to help your family better understand what is going on? If he is not on hospice yet, you might want to consider it, because a good hospice team should be able to tell you what to expect, how he would be likely to die, and perhaps provide you with more support and guidance. Good luck and take care. Hi, my dad recently was diagnosed with anemia caused by iron deficiency, He is on baby aspirin and plavix.
He was alos taking Amitiza for good 10 years. For some reason his total cholesterol dropped down too. Are there any relationship between total cholesterol and iron deficiency? Two month ago he had abdominal cat scan and it was perfectly normal. An abdominal CT can show some abnormalities and occasionally masses in the colon, but is not usually considered the best way to evaluate for bleeding in the intestinal tract.
For instance, dual antiplatelet therapy is beneficial to people who have had recent coronary stents, but most of the benefit is during the first months; after that the risk of bleeding may outweigh the likelihood of benefit.
Dual antiplatelet used to be commonly used after strokes, but research indicates that this increases bleeding risk without usually reducing stroke risk compared to being on only Plavix. My father had hemoglobin 5. Iron normal, no bleeds found.
Told it is likely medications causing red blood cell destruction and bone marrow suppression. Plavix prevents blood clots and Xarelto is another type of blood thinner, so people taking both do have a risk of bleeding. Red cell destruction usually causes an increase in indirect bilirubin levels can be seen on blood tests. Bone marrow suppression is often associated with a lower than expected reticulocyte count. This is an excellent, clearly-worded resource on anemia in the elderly.
Thank you for sharing your time and expertise. About 2 years ago, my year-old mother-in-law complained of shortness of breath, severe fatigue, and headaches, and a blood count showed her to have very low ferritin count of 5. Her doc ruled out any internal bleeding base on a negative FOBT and a chest CT, which showed that she has a large hiatal hernia but nothing else unusual.
Could the supplements be masking an undiagnosed GI bleed or similar problem that should be investigated further? She has never had an endoscopy. Most experts recommend considering endoscopy, for evaluation of possible slow GI bleeding. Of course for some frail older adults, the likely risks and burdens of endoscopy outweigh the likely benefits; her doctors should be able to help your family discuss the likely risks of endoscopy and whether it makes sense for her to undergo them.
If her endoscopy evaluation is negative, then it might be reasonable to stop the iron supplements and see if she shows signs of blood or iron loss e. You might find this article relevant: Outcome of endoscopy-negative iron deficiency anemia in patients above I had two iron infusions and my iron level only went up a tad. Doctor scheduled a 6 week follow-up.
I am 74 yrs old. Hard to know what to say. I would recommend asking your doctor the questions in the article. How bad is your anemia and how did they conclude you were iron deficient? What is the cause of your iron deficiency and what kind of evaluation for possible bleeding have you had? Last but not least, you can find online communities of other people with your health condition, and they might help you figure out what to ask your doctor next.
My mother has anemia and they are getting nowhere helping her. She has to have a transfusion every weeks. She is getting tired and has talked about giving up several times.
They have done several test, with no luck finding the cause. She has had a scope done up and down 2 times each, She had a bone marrow biopsy with negative results on that one. It seems to me that her hematologist just gave up and now does nothing. What can be done about this? She is changing doctors in March but the new one is in the same office as her current one is in now.
I though about taking her to another hospital, but she refuses to get the same test done over and over again. If her case is challenging, it can be better to go to an academic medical center, where the doctors often have deeper expertise or are otherwise more inclined to dig into the difficult cases. I have been researching my symptoms and issues for a few weeks now and came across this publication.
I beg to differ. I have never felt this way and wanted to share a couple numbers with you to seek advice. I am 33 years old, very active, work full time, and raise two children.
About a month ago, I started getting what I call head flutters, just odd sensations that would come and go throughout the day in my head, but no pain. I then started feeling chest pressure, my chest just feels heavy. I started looking over my results myself to see if anything showed any clues and saw a couple numbers that were borderline low normal so I wondered if maybe I could be borderline anemic?
Is it okay to take an iron supplement to see if it helps? I appreciate any feedback. Here are the numbers that leaned towards the lower area of normal:. Everything else was pretty much right in the middle, thyroid was definitely high normal though! They did not check my Vit D or check on the B12 or ferritin. Chest discomfort can be caused by a lot of things. If the pain gets worse or scary, obviously you should call Otherwise, you may want to ask the doctor if there is any possibility your symptoms could reflect heart problems, or some other issue affecting blood vessels e.
Conventionally trained doctors working in conventionally managed practices often have difficulty helping people in such situations. From what you shared, seems to me very unlikely that anemia or borderline anemia would be the cause of your symptoms. If your symptoms persist, you will have to keep asking for help from medical providers. If your usual provider is not helpful, you will need to look into a second opinion, or perhaps a consultation with a provider who specializes in cases similar to yours.
Functional medicine may well help. My father who is 57 went for an annual physical in the beginning of January. He was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. They also did blood work which showed iron deficiency. Ferritin 11 Iron 48 Iron saturation 11 Iron binding capacity unsaturated Iron binding capacity He went for a colonoscopy which found a 2 cm benign polyp, diverticulosis, and internal hemorrhoids.
The doctor is also referring him for an upper endoscopy. I was just wondering your thoughts on these blood results. I am a PA student and I have learned to be worried about anemia in males, because it is usually due to something more sinister. Is it possible that the anemia can be due to benign causes? He does have a history of taking Naproxen Sodium regularly. Is it possible he can have an asymptomatic bleeding stomach ulcer?
Sorry for the novel. I just get nervous. Especially because my uncle had anemia and was ultimately diagnosed with pancreatic cancer not related by blood to my father. Yes, he could certainly have an ulcer or bleeding from somewhere else in his GI tract. My dad had repeat blood work after being on the iron pill once a day for about 3 months he took the pill with meals, which he was unaware that it is better absorbed on an empty stomach. The results were:. All labs went up but the ferritin went down.
He was also placed on an 81 mg aspirin daily at this time. He just received an upper endoscopy which showed no evidence of a bleed. If it is negative, they are going to continue supplementation and monitor.
We are also waiting for the results of the biopsies taken from the endoscopy. My question is if you think this is a reasonable course to go? Could the aspirin been effecting these numbers? Is there anything else we should test? So confused as to why he is iron deficient and so nervous that we may be missing something. His blood count overall is not that low, but his ferritin does seem quite low.
You may want to ask them to discuss with you the likely benefits and risks of taking the aspirin at this time. It is a risk for new or continued bleeding, so it might help for the doctors to clarify how important it is for him to take it at this time. I am interested in mild anemia and came across your site. I had been having symptoms of a headache after exercise or exertion. However, a blood retest in Jan revealed levels are back to normal but in the starting range, 4. The doctors say that anemia is not there.
But I still have symptoms, tension headaches on exertion, an irregular heartbeat at times. Does these reading sound like mild anemia? So not sure if these are symptoms of underweight or something else.
I also noticed blood in stools for the past 2 years. But cannot be sure if it was blood. I have anxiety and the doctors are not able to isolate the issue. I am concerned about any advice from you would help. If they are persisting, then you should definitely keep working with your doctors to figure out what is causing your symptoms.
If you have noticed an irregular heartbeat at times, you should be sure to mention this to your doctors. There are usually ways to monitor the heart for several days via a wearable patch or other special device ; something like this could help determine what is going on with your heart when you experience symptoms.
Thanks for the advice. I Have been seeing different specialty doctors but they have not been able to pont the finger to any one cause for the headaches. I have done done holter and all other heart related tests. They are fine. Only minor jha plaque in artery.
I was more concerned if there is any Undetected cancer colon that is had caused the weight loss. And is beginning to show some symtomps.
Is there anything that I need to look i need to look Out for? If you are concerned about undetected cancer, then I would recommend bringing that up with your usual doctors. They would be best positioned to advise you on how to address this concern, and what might be signs of cancer given your situation. Unintended weight loss certainly is a concerning symptom, however, if your weight has stabilized since , that sounds somewhat reassuring.
Of course, if you are experiencing worrisome symptoms, then you need to keep asking your health providers for help, or consider seeing a different type of doctor. In the US, some clinicians in functional medicine have had good success in evaluating these cases, because they have a more careful and thorough approach than conventional doctors do.
Thanks for your input Dr. Do you know of any good functional medicine doctors in the US that i can reach out to that can help. Im 65 and diabetic A1c around 6. So my question is. Something changed after weight loss — and no matter what I eat im at a solid lbs was at any clue 2, Shoulder replacement required — started advil around may timefram — could that be a problem 3.
How far can they take this testing — sounds like an endless process 4. Would all my other CBC results be normal if there was an issue?
A colonoscopy inspects the colon but not the small bowel or stomach, both of which can be sources of bleeding. If there is a slow chronic bleed, often other tests related to iron-deficiency anemia e. Be sure to keep asking your doctors lots of questions, they are best positioned to help you figure this out. Will read more of this excellent site before asking about possible reasons for low haemoglobin. Then will go back to my new GP and possibly ask questions of my gastroenterologist who wants me to have a colonoscopy.
My age 84 and live entirely alone. Thanks, Judy. I would also recommend going to your medical appointments with a family member or trusted friend.
Eats very little, aenimic,angina problems. Haemoglobin drops every few months. She gets blood transfusion. Why would they let it drop to 6, before deciding she needs a transfusion. Hm, well I would recommend you ask the involved providers to explain their reasoning for why they wait until a hemoglobin of 6 rather than 7. Some research generally done in hospitalized patients, not nursing home patients suggests a transfusion threshold of 7 is acceptable, so perhaps they are waiting for her to drop just below 7 e.
I hope they have explained to you why she has these persisting drops in hemoglobin. If not, I would recommend asking questions as this sounds like an important issue to address. This has been the most helpful article I have come across in my search for answers to my anaemia!
I have been suffering for at least five years and unable to get my levels up. Living in Greece is not easy and much research is done on our part. My latest readings are haematocrit 33,1, RCC , haemoglobin 10,5, serum iron 61 and ferritin 14,5.
The doctor has prescribed ferrous glutonate but should I be pushing for a colonoscopy and endoscopy? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Well, the main thing I recommend pushing for is an explanation. A hemoglobin of Your health providers should be able to help you with an evaluation and an explanation. They said a three month course of iron tablets for Normocytic anaemia should sort her out, and it did, bloods back to within normal range and all she felt better in herself, less lethargic, picking up less colds etc.
At what point do we push this? Her WBC count is borderline low, so it may or may not be of significance. What is more interesting to me is that you say her blood count got better with iron supplements. So, you may want to ask them if she had signs of iron deficiency e.
If she is iron-deficient now, the question would be why. Need your good advice urgently. My mom is 88 years old, she has been diagnosed with low blood count, about 8 points and also irregular heart beat.
Few days ago she had a mild heart attack. Heart doctor wanting to give blood thinner to her but worry she might have internal bleeding that causes her anemia.
We are reluctant to do colonoscopy given her age. To us, currently she looks pretty fine except a bit weak. Taking a blood thinner does increase the risk of internal bleeding, or can worsen an existing small bleed. Is there a very big and important benefit in taking the blood thinner right away? This is the kind of question you need to ask her doctors; I cannot answer it because it depends on her particular health circumstances.
If not, then it may make sense to wait a bit and try to find out why she became so anemic. Your doctors should be able to tell you whether a colonoscopy is likely to be very risky given her age and condition. There are also other ways to check for internal bleeding. Last but not least, waiting for a period of time and seeing if the blood count stabilizes is another potential approach that can be used. Thanks for your advice. Pls let me know what other ways to check for internal bleeding?
They should be able to test her stool to see if there are signs of microscopic blood. Also, you can ask whether her ferritin was low, or did she have other signs of iron loss. It often does make sense for older adults with afib to take blood thinners; whether the likely benefits of her starting one right away outweigh the risks , compared to perhaps waiting a few weeks; this is one thing you might discuss with her doctors.
Viral infections, ionizing radiation, and exposure to toxic chemicals or drugs can also result in aplastic anemia. Hemolytic anemia occurs when red blood cells are broken up in the bloodstream or in the spleen. Hemolytic anemia may be due to mechanical causes leaky heart valves or aneurysms , infections, autoimmune disorders, or congenital abnormalities in the red blood cell. Inherited abnormalities may affect the hemoglobin or the red blood cell structure or function.
Examples of inherited hemolytic anemias include some types of thalassemia and low levels of enzymes such as glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.
The treatment will depend on the cause. Sickle cell anemia is an inherited hemolytic anemia in which the hemoglobin protein is abnormal, causing the red blood cells to be rigid and clog the circulation because they are unable to flow through small blood vessels.
Anemia caused by other diseases - Some diseases can affect the body's ability to make red blood cells. For example, some patients with kidney disease develop anemia because the kidneys are not making enough of the hormone erythropoietin to signal the bone marrow to make new or more red blood cells. Chemotherapy used to treat various cancers often impairs the body's ability to make new red blood cells, and anemia often results from this treatment. Iron-deficiency anemia is almost always due to blood loss.
If you have iron-deficiency anemia, your doctor may order tests to determine if you are losing blood from your stomach or bowels. Other nutritional anemias, such as folate or B deficiency, may result from poor diet or from an inability to absorb vitamins in the gastrointestinal tract.
Treatment varies from changing your diet to taking dietary supplements. If your anemia is due to a chronic disease, treatment of the underlying disease will often improve the anemia.
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