Blood issues with another child, ugh!

We finally found a new general doctor that both of my girls like. We are going to stick with this one. She was very thorough with my daughters and ran blood tests on both of them a few months ago. We found out that my older daughter was very anemic (iron deficient as well as low Vitamin D) with her hemoglobin only at 7 so they put her on a high dose of iron 3 times a day. Unfortunately, two blood draws later, her hemoglobin has only gone up to 9 so they are looking into other causes. They said her red blood cells are small and keep asking her if her stool is darker than normal. She says her periods are normal and not heavier, but we don't know what is heavier than normal. She does terrible with blood draws so I am so thankful that she is not my one with ITP. My younger one just smiles and says she finally gets a taste of what she goes through, but my older daughter just thinks her blood draws are much more difficult, lol! I think they are going to try one more thing and if her hemoglobin still doesn't go up, then they may do some kind of procedure to look inside and see if she is bleeding internally. (There is nothing at all to indicate this...she feels absolutely fine.) They also said they are thinking of sending her to a hematologist if there are no improvements. My insurance company must hate us! (Oh, and this child is bruising much worse than Caitlin at this point and her platelet count is normal!)

Gee Pauline. Sorry to hear this! I hope they figure out something soon and I hope it's an easy fix.

I am hoping so too! We ended up having to take her to the ER due to severe stomach pain. Thought for sure it was appendicitis and after giving her two bags of saline and pain meds through an IV as well as an ultrasound, they decided it was constipation. They told her it was due to the iron pills so now I have a stubborn daughter who refuses to take her pills. She said she'd rather be iron deficient than go through that pain again!

Pauline - there are some iron supplements that are easier on the stomach. I'd check with her doctor and see if she could have something else.

www.nutritiondome.com/iron.html

Thanks Sandi...I have called the doctor and I'm hoping they will put her on some type of multivitamin with iron that is small enough for her to swallow. I am already seeing the paleness, moodiness, and fatigue creep back in so she needs to take something. (She says she is not moody, but I could tell a huge difference after two weeks on the iron pills.) Who knows the difference between being a teenager and having something cause moodiness. She's a good girl, just isn't the nicest person to mom or dad right now...only her friends. Her grades are awesome so I just have to give her the space, unfortunately!

Tell her that if she doesn't take the tablets she'll end up having to have iron injections and they are a lot worse than any blood draw. They can be very painful.

When I was on iron one GP said that there's no point in taking huge doses as it doesn't get absorbed so taking a smaller dose is just as good. Not that I'd recommend anyone else to go against doctor's orders but if it were me I would come to some sort of compromise.