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Anemia

Posted , 10 users are following.

mjhollywood
mjhollywood

My doc now tell me to see a specialist. Due to that fact I have anemia.  Very low count.   Has anyone else be sent to the blood doc !!!!! Scary.  When you about anemia.     Mj   

0 likes, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • andre68439
    andre68439 mjhollywood

    Posted

    Hi MJ. My first bout of PMR went un-diagnosed for 8 months and I deteriorated rapidly including becoming anemic. My blood count was so low the MD's suspected that I was hemorrhaging internally. While waiting for more tests I was diagnosed with PMR and the Prednisone resolved the issue. I can only assume the severe inflammation from the PMR triggered the anemia.

  • r.d.s26296
    r.d.s26296 mjhollywood

    Posted

    How low was your blood count ?

    What is your age ?

    Are you female or male ?

  • catherine34621
    catherine34621 mjhollywood

    Posted

    I was sent to a Haematologist as my white cell count was too high, she did tests and said I was borderline anaemic, she sent me for a Bone Marrow test which wasn't as bad as I expected, that came bak o.k. so she put it down to the steroids.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee catherine34621

      Posted

      Prednisone will definatly boost your white blood count. I'm surprised they went the whole way into doing a bone marrow test. My rheumatologist did send me to a hematologist when my white blood cell count was high but just as we all suspected the hematologist said it was because of the prednisone and there was no reason to think it would be anything else. However he wanted to see me again in 6 months. Between those two appointments I developed a really bad case of anemia. My iron got dangerously low and tablets were not doing enough and I ended up having to have two infusions. I just saw the hematologist yesterday and he gave me the all clear. My iron and ferritin were both elevated and in the normal range finally!

  • Anhaga
    Anhaga mjhollywood

    Posted

    I had very low blood count but no panic ensued, just recommended to take iron supplements.  When I pulled a face the doctor told me to go to the health food store and get liquid iron supplement, and after about eight or ten months my iron levels were fine again.  But after the initial test, I don't know what the haemoglobin was, she only measured ferritin.  I believe anaemia is quite common with untreated PMR.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee Anhaga

      Posted

      Really? I did not know that Anemia was a problem with untreated PMR. That would explain why my rheumatologist bothered to even check it. Because she just did it as a routine blood test.
    • EileenH
      EileenH amkoffee

      Posted

      Anaemia of chronic disorders is a well-known phenomenon.
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy amkoffee

      Posted

      I had bad anaemia. I would look in the mirror and I saw this ghost staring back. 
    • EileenH
      EileenH ptolemy

      Posted

      Now I find that quite interesting. At the start of PMR I was a white as a sheet - or even, grey. I even bought make-up in the hope of looking less washed out. But my Hb has never been below about 16 for years and years - probably because I spent a lot of time at altitude. I think there is more to the whiteness than just anaemia.
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy EileenH

      Posted

      You may be right. I definitely looked pretty awful and people used to gasp when they saw me. I had not had any tests for hemoglobin for years if it all, so I don’t really know. 
  • ClaireJG
    ClaireJG mjhollywood

    Posted

    The anaemia that we have tends to be Anaemia of Chronic Disease or Anaemia of Chronic Inflammation, unless of course there is anything else going on that has yet to be diagnosed. In our case, it is not generally due to any major bleeding issue. Several doctors have told me not to worry about the low haemoglobin and other iron related tests as there is a complex process going on in the body when there is chronic infection, chronic immune activation or malignancy, all of which result in anaemia. One of the doctors referred me to a gastroenterologist just to be sure, but after several more specific blood tests for iron storage etc, he also concluded that I had Anaemia of Chronic Disease, and I managed to evade the dreaded colonoscopy!
  • mjhollywood
    mjhollywood

    Posted

    Thx everyone. in  Cario on vacation. When I get off this camel and back In Hollywood Fl I will go get some iron tabs.  This site knows a lot more about p m r then my doc !!!! I will follow up with more blood test.  Let you know. ❤️
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