My visit w/ the hematologist

I saw the hematologist on Friday.  Of course, without having done his own testing there wasn't much he could do other than speculate.  He pointed out (based on my medical records which were sent) that my hemoglobin has dropped from 11.9 in February to 9.9 as of April.  I had SEVEN tubes of blood taken for all of the testing he ordered. 

I had outpatient surgery in Feb. (bladder sling), and he said the drop in my hemoglobin could possibly be related to that.  He also pointed out that it could be an iron deficiency as this can co-exist with thalassemia minor.  If the tests show an iron deficiency, he wants me to have iron administered INTRAVENOUSLY.  (I'd never even heard of such a thing!)

Has anyone ever had iron intravenously?  Do you suppose my insurance carrier will cover this, or should it be pre-approved?  (I may be getting ahead of myself since I do not even know if this will be necessary.)

Any insight is appreciated......

Hi Jules,

Yes i have had iron infused intravenously,when i had my first baby,my hb dropped to 7.3,neither me nor my docs knew about my thal status at that time,anyways i guess iron is infused intravenously if you have a seviour iron defficeincy anemia,Although i don't know if it's covered by insurance or not .

ZAINI.

I don't think there would be any trouble getting insurance coverage for IV iron. It is often done if there is a serious deficiency as it is a quick method to restore iron stores. Iron deficiency can co-exist with thal minor even though the two anemias are not related. Just as a certain percentage of the general population is iron deficient, so is a similar percentage of thal minors. Your deficiency could be related to the surgery (my own hematocrit dropped over 50% after surgery) but it should be up to you whether you decide to take the IV iron. If you feel that you can raise your iron levels back up through diet, you may want to give that a chance. I tried iron tablets but my stomach couldn't tolerate them. I did turn to an iron rich (vegetarian) diet and was able to raise my hematocrit to a level higher than anything I had ever had before.