Anyone ever had a transfusion because of anemia?

I can't seem to get my anemia under control no matter what supplements I take, even a lot of iron vitamins. I went to my doc today because 3x in the past 6 weeks or so I have gotten dizzy, I thought it was an inner ear thing. He looked at labs, checked ears, etc, and said the dizziness is because I am so anemic. He said that if we don't get the anemia under control I might need to get a transfusion. Has anyone ever had this done because of anemia? Any info would be helpful. Thank you!

I had to have two units of blood when I was in the hospital this summer.  I felt SO much better the next day- like a whole new person.  It was a little scary at the time, because they took it so super seriously.  Two nurses checked and double checked each other, they had me check and spell my name- I'd been in for over a week at that point, and they'd been pumping stuff into me left and right, but nothing else was done this carefully.  Even my surgery seemed more casual than the transfusion.  It didn't feel any different than any of my other IVs, though. 

My mom came down from Boston to be with me, and she offered to donate the blood for my transfusion, but it would have taken time to type her and do all the testing, and they didn't want to wait that long, so they used the blood bank.  If that's something you're concerned about, you could talk to your doctor about using a family donation instead of a stranger's.

yes, years ago and to be honest, it didn't do much for me. I only got one bag of blood. I ended up seeing a hematologist who put me on regular iron pills and not the prescription ones. That worked for me and I actually got my hemaglobin up to double digits for the first time in years.

i am dealing with this problem now. became anemic in may. had to get a transfusion in july (2 units). was doing well than i tanked again and i had to get another 2 units in september. no one knows what is up. my b-12 is low and my iron is super low, but that is expected with anemia. i know i aint bleeding cos i've seen it and have had symptoms so i know it aint directly related to any flare. i think it is the 6-mp i am on which i've been on since 1995. so i am stopping that and seeing what happens as it can cause bone marrow suppression. i hope it is this med cos if not then i dont know what to do. the docs have no idea - i was the one who suggested it could be the med from my own research.

i was trying the all natural route for the first few months - natural iron supplements (floradix) and dessicated buffalo liver, rare red meat 3x/wk, liver 1/wk, more spinach...things like that. i started taking a b-12 supplement too and those levels are improving. but overall this didnt seem to do much as my iron is still super low. now i started taking iron supplements (app 175 mg elemental daily). we'll see how that works. it could take a few months. my hematologist just wants to monitor my blood and not do anything. doesnt want to give me iron infusions - says use the pills first. i get the impression from him too that it is no big deal to get another transfusion. i dont want to get transfusions every other month or so. that is no way to live.

it took me a week or so before i started to feel better after the transfusions, which i thought was odd cos i just got a bunch of new blood so you'd think i'd be feeling better right away, which is also what the nurses said. oh well....

CrazyHarry,
You said that it took you a week or so after the transfusion to start feeling better, which I think is odd too considering you just got some healthy, new blood pumped into ya...haha. How long did the transfusion take and was it a complicated process?

marci - transfusion took like 3-4 hours for 2 units of blood. bring a book, your ipod, or a portable dvd player/lap top and watch a movie or two. it is pretty boring laying on a bed for a few hours, but at least in my experience it is shorter in/out time compared to a remicade infusion.

Hi,

I was so anemic I kept fainting before surgery in Jan 07 (diagnosed in April 06). I fought the idea of transfusion and finally after surgery my doctor came in and said I'm reaching a really dangerous point. finally agreed to it and made a big difference - I actually got out of bed that day. Still anemic to this day but the transfusion really helped... BTW this was at Mt Sinai in Toronto.