<<Has this mom had a hemoglobin electrophersis?  She may have
Thalassemia etc.
> In that case her body maintains and functions on less hgb than you or I.
> Supplemental iron isn't the answer unless you know the true reason for
> the
> anemia.  Pat in SNJ>>

what she said:)      I have thalassemia - or it least it was always
assumed b/c of the mediterranean background and my dad and one sister
have it.    My hgb/hct were always low.   Then after really working with
a nutritionist and seeing the numbers change a bit for the better
(better than what I'd ever been told to expect), we felt more
investigation was in order.  I hassled my doc to do a ferritin which
turned out to be quite low.  At that point, I upped my folic acid and B6
(necessary for rbc production) and started taking about 85 mgs of
Ferrochel (tm name for Albion labs amino acid chelated iron) per day for
a week, then I cut down to 45 mgs per day for another 2 weeks.   While
my doc was sure that that wasn't enough to to get my ferritin up to
normal, the nutritionists clinical experience was that that often was
enough time when using this form of iron (which also has exceptionally
low toxicity as compared to other forms of iron).   also have to say
that my doc wanted to use traditional prescription iron - but I wasn't
touching that with a ten foot pole.   When we had blood work redone, all
came back well within the range of normal.  Incl the ferritin which was
supposed to take several months to replete according to my internist.

So I never did have thalassemia - for some reason, my body just needs
more b6, folic acid and iron vs what is typically thought to be
adequate.   And for many yrs, b/c of the thalassemia dx,  I wasn't
taking *any* iron.  oops.

Seems prudent to get the most complete picture, incl ferritin, possibly
bloodwork for celiac, dietary counseling with an excl clinical
*nutritionist*.    If it's truly 'just' a lack of dietary iron, it's
easy to fix.

katherine in atl

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