when did you get iron transfusion

Hi all, my GP (family doctor) has been giving me iron tablets for months.  No real change to numbers, and usual side effects!  She sent me to the gastro to check the anemia more thoroughly.  My numbers came back as well below normal for iron and iron saturation, low end of normal for ferritin and transferrin.  My gastro explained before the tests that when you have crohn's, iron may not be absorbed properly (anemia of chronic disease) and I might need an iron transfusion.  The gastro's repsonse to the tests has been that there's no need to do anything.

Does anyone know what is considered to be "anemia" and when iron supplementation (other than by the horrid tablets) is needed?

Thanks

P.S.  I am exhausted and want some answers.  But I guess it might not be anemia.  Any thoughts on what else might be going on?  I get B12 injections regularly, and my crohn's is pretty quiet at the moment.

What's your haemoglobin? That's the only one which means anything to me when it comes to iron deficiency anaemia. At any rate, I've had iron transfusions twice. The first time was several years ago and didn't work at all: I basically passed out and went into anaphylactic shock. Oops. That put paid to any more iron transfusions for a while, obviously, but a few years later at a different hospital I tried it again. A different preparation, given at a much slower rate than the normal rate. It basically was like a miracle cure for anaemia. My restless legs syndrome disappeared overnight and my haemoglobin went from 7 to 11 in a matter of weeks.

Normal haemoglobin levels starts at 12 for a woman and at 14 for a man (not sure of units, sorry!). For a woman, having a haemoglobin value between 10-12 is mild anaemia. Once it drops below 10 into single digits it starts getting a little more serious, especially for a man, since their haemoglobin is naturally higher to begin with.

Anyway, unless your anaemia is very mild, I would strongly push your gastro for iron transfusions. You do not need to have them regularly: a single infusion should do the trick. You might slowly become anaemic again, but that would be over a course of months or years. You can also eat more iron-rich foods; that's okay for very mild anaemia, but will not be sufficient to reverse more severe anaemia.

In all honesty, even after googling I still don't have a clue :-/

That first one, iron, is a mystery. Thought it might be serum iron, but those values correspond with no values I saw. Ah, sorry, it's gone 3am and my brain has given out.

*collapses*

I had iron infusions last fall and am SO glad I did it. I've been struggling for years with trying to take supplements and the best my numbers ever are were at the low end of normal. Finally my GI listened when I said I can't take the oral supplements any longer because they bother my gut. So I did 4 infusions over a month and it helped soooo much. I wasn't tired any more, I could get through a day without being exhausted it's was great. I'm probably going to need another round at some point soon as the symptoms are starting to come back.

Of all you numbers the one my PCP was always concerned about most is saturation. I personally don't put alot of faith in just the hemocrit numbers, they have to take all of them into account to get an accurate diagnosis. To me, those numbers would warrant the infusions. They aren't bad but you do have to go to an infusion center to get them done. The ones I did took about an hour to run the bag through the IV. The worst part is always finding my vein though -- after that I just read till it was done and went to work.

Give it a try, IMHO.

Take care

Thanks everyone!

interesting....I was just getting ready to post a similar question.  I have had one iron infussion last Oct. no side effects, felt better in a few days and it seem to last for a couple of months.  My infusion did last for about 6 hours as they did mine all at one time but on a very slow drip. My hemoglobin was 9.8 to 9.4 but my stores was extremely low according to the hemotologist so she said that taking iron pills was of no value.  Plus, she said with having crohn;s surgery your body's ability to asorb iron is greatly reduced.  Now that said, no doctor has discuss amenia of cronic disease, but from what I have read it might affect many of us.

Today, my GP called.  my hemoglobin was down to 10.4, a drop from 11.8 30 days ago.  3 months ago I was at 12.6.  So something is going on with my system.  She was contacting my hemotologist to compare notes and make a plan.  I will assume I will be back for another infusion.  I am a 50 yr old male, and our hemoglobin levels should be greater than 14.  I can say that when I got to below 10, I really struggled with walking stairs and hills ect.  I am not there but will be soon.

I do plan to ask about the anemia of cronic diseases, but from what I read there is not much we can do but "cure" the underlying disease...you ain't kidding.......