Well, we went in, our appointment was at 3 and as far as we knew it was basically just to draw blood. After an hour of having this Dr tell us information we already knew (how blood is made in the body and that many things can make a person anemic including pregnancy and breast feeding... REALLY? hmmm.... honey, we need to do that preg test to see if you are pregnant... We could really use the $$$ that would make when we sell the book and liscence the movie about the pregnant man that's really a MAN!) he did a short, 4 minute long physical on the husband. AND THEN! Then he tells us that their in house lab closed 3 minutes ago so we have to go to the hospital lab to get his blood drawn so they can do the tests! Come on! couldn't you have done the blood FIRST?!?!?!?
The one question my husband had for him was this: Since he has been on antacids for YEARS, 2 prevacid or prilosec a day, every day for the last 3 -4 years, could that have an impact as to how much iron is absorbed? The body only absorbs iron in about 1 foot of our intestine right where it attaches to our stomach after all. No where else is iron absorbtion happening. This is when he launched into how iron is absorbed, and that it doesn't happen in the stomach and blah, blah, blah. The one good thing he did say was that in March of 2010, hubby was NOT anemic. Now, 1 year later (almost) in February 2011, he is SEVERELY anemic. This is not normal, nor is it usual. And as severely anemic as he is, this may or may not lead to iron infusion, or even a blood transfusion if they can't find the cause.
Good news... He did get his blood drawn at the hospital! And they told us that they would have the results within 4 hours since none of the labs were ones that needed to be sent out. So, as I type this both his regular GP and the hemotologist/oncologist should have the results and sometime in their copious amounts of spare time I am sure they are going to look at these results and have more of an idea of what is going on in hubby's body.
I'll keep you posted!!
4 comments:
I just read your posting about the anemia, and a simple google of does "prilosec cause anemia" brings up a lot of hits....Seems there may be a connection.
I suffer from ulcers, and have had to do some diet changes, and am surviving quite well without meds...
Saw your post on the survivalnet group~ Love reading blogs! Joined up to read yours and was reading about the Anemia~
I am currently trying to re-start a medication that may or may not have caused aplastic anemia (when the body stops making red blood cells all together). Its honestly the only med that I take currently that keeps me from checking into the loony bin.
BUT~ there was no conclusion as to why I needed to have 4 units (2 quarts) of blood as an emergency transfusion. (should have had 5 or 6 honestly) I'm just now getting into the almost normal Hemoglobin range. One dr said it was a virus, another said medication. Then it could have been something in the water we had when we lived in the woods and had an above ground spring.
Anemia is some scary stuff!! Of any sort!
Keep everyone updated for SURE! I for one am quite curious!
Angelia
My husband sent me your website and I was reading the posting about your husband's blood problems. Mine has been on Prilosec for about 5 or 6 years and just the last couple he has had no energy and felt bad all the time. He is diabetic and on some of the meds for that, too. He had done some reading about it and come up with the same conclusion as Pawz about the side effects, but his digestion is wrecked and he has to stay on it. We decided to try him on B12, really good for many problems and reasonably safe to take in large amounts. He's absolutely become another man since starting it several months ago, plenty of energy and rarely sick. I've taken extra B for years and have also managed to avoid many problems of my age and weight. It is easily absorbed and much better than being on iron which always gave me severe digestion problems. A deficiency can also cause heart problems according to one of his doctors. I'm not trying to be a doctor here, but you might look into it.
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