New here..

Hi! My name is Kathy, and I surfed over here from the Msn group. I live in Michigan.

The reason why I'm here is, well, I had questions about Thalassemia. I'm about to be tested for it. I'm 33 years old, and pregnant with my fifth baby.

I'm confused about this disease, and have never heard of it before the nurse told me I was going to be tested for it. She called me this morning and asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with it, and I said no. I've been told I had low iron before, and this has happened everytime I was pregnant. Anemia is in my family but no one ever told me I was anemic. I've been surfing around looking around for information about this. I wish that i had asked for more information, but figured I would look it up on the net.

Also my last prenatal visit which was this Monday, the nurse said my blood numbers were out of whack. I never heard that before either.

Anyway, my questions are:

1) Aren't I too old to even have this disease?
2) Has this ever happened to anyone else? I mean, been diagnosed, at this late an age?
3) Is this a progressive disease? I mean, can you have one type then it would change it to another type later on in life?

I have had rapid weight loss, paleness, fatigue.  I chalked this up to low iron, and also that i have two little children to care for, (3 and 1), and I was also working nights till 2 am. 

Excuse my ignorance, I just heard about this today..    Hopefully someone can answer my questions, and I also hope for the best in my tests.

If nothing comes of it, then I know I'll be wiser about another disease, and think about others who have thalassemia. Thank you so much for your time!

Welcome Kathy to this site!

It is impossible that you have Thal Major and have not been diagnosed until you are 33. It is not a progressive disorder (not disease!), it is a genetic disorder that you are born with. Very unlikely that your genes could have spontaneously mutated at 33!

It is possible that you have Thal minor or the Thal E gene (i.e. one recessive Thal gene), which could be causing some issues with your blood tests. You should know the answer to that once your test reports come back. But, even if you are a minor (and your partner is not), you should not have much to worry about.

Good luck!!

Hi Poirot. Thank you for the correction about the disorder, I was wondering what I should be calling it... I also feel some relief at your response. All the information out there almost put my brain on overload!

I thank you very much, and will continue to read up on thalassemia.

Hi Kathy,

It is very possible that you are a thal minor. Combined with the demands of your life, it can explain your symptoms. Make sure you are getting a good diet and you may need to supplement with certain vitamins, especially folic acid. I know it's impossible with small children but getting some regular rest is also important. Iron supplements should not be taken unless a definite deficiency has been shown through a ferritin test. Iron can be harmful if taken when not needed.

If the test does come back as minor, it would be a good idea to have your children tested so they know if they carry the gene. Having children with another carrier can result in a thal major and then there are significant life-threatening problems

Please let us know what the test results are.

Hi Kathy, good to see you here.   

I hope everything turns out ok with you and your pregnancy.  Have you heard anything yet?   

I'm hoping that nothing is wrong, but if it turns out to be something, I hope it's something small and controllable, like a small deficiency in iron.  Were you told which of your blood numbers were out of whack?  There are so many different blood values to deal with, and that's such a generalized statement.

It's impossible for you to have the full-blown Thal disorder at this point in your life, without having any problems in the past, with needing blood and whatnot, so at least that's good.

I wouldn't even go as far as saying that you are an Intermedia, because I still think that you would've had problems before now.  If you did have Thalassemia, it would most-likely be minor, as Andy had said.  There are so many different blood disorders and such out there, so without knowing which of your counts are out of whack, it's impossible to know.  Try not to think the extreme, because if it does happen to be Thal, it's most-likely not going to be a serious version of it.

I hope everything works out for you.  Let us know what happens.   :hug