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Should I Take Blood Transfusion Or Injections For Experiencing Extreme Fatigue And Breathlessness With Low Hemoglobin Levels?

Posted on Thu, 16 Jan 2014

Question: Hi My sister's is complaining of exterme fatigue and breathlessness . Our GP suggested CBC amongst other tests. Other tests (liver kindey ) are normal except her Hb levels are prettly low (7.6) . I have attached the scanned copy of report. Next appointment is tommorow . Shall I wait till tmrw or start her with blood transfusion or injections?

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Iron deficiency anemia. Detailed Answer: Hi, Definitely your sister needs Packed cell transfusion by one or two units since she has extreme fatigue and SOB. It is better to get the Hemoglibin to 8mg/dl. No need to give extra units of packed cells than the requirements. THere would not be any additional benefit. Later injections plus irone rich diet. Till then she needs complete bed rest and fluids. She needs to be counseling about her health and diet as well. She requires transfusion as soon as possible. We also need to understand the reason for low Hemoglobin. It looks to be Iron deficiency / blood loss.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli

Follow up: Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (4 hours later)

Thanks doctor . I will get her admitted for the transfusion.

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (4 days later)

Brief Answer: Please close and rate Detailed Answer: Hope everything went well with the transfusion. Please ask me any further queries else you may close our discussion here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli

Follow up: Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (7 hours later)

Hi Doctor . We have not gone for blood transfusion till now . After one week of injections and medication we did another CBC the Hb has gone down to 7.1 . Is it normal that much a drop in one week ? Although she is saying that she is feeling better than before.

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer: At least three weeks treatment with injections Detailed Answer: Hi I am not sure why there is a delay. The medication and injections requires at least three to four weeks for the Hemoglobin to go up by 1gm/dl. These are slow acting. If she is feeling better than earlier let her continue on the injections and medicines. Hope this helps.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli

Follow up: Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (33 minutes later)

Hi Doctor We delayed transfusion as she started feeling better . Since her B12 is low so our GP also concurred that it is Iron deficeiny anemia . What I am worried about is that could there be some other underlying problem that could have caused this drop.

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (12 minutes later)

Brief Answer: drop is expected once treatment starts. Detailed Answer: The drop is commonal for first two weeks. Keep follow up. If it still drops we can investigate further.

Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli