Thal Minor and Headaches

Hey all! I recently went to the doctor for a routine check-up before heading up to college and it turned into a rather unpleasant rollercoaster ride where I found out I have Thal Minor. I don't know very much about this disease but I have been doing a lot of research as well as reading many of the posts. I have been getting the worst headaches recently. I've always had headaches but in the past few months the pain has doubled, if not tripled and they come much more frequently. I am always out of breath from even the simplest tasks. My doctor said it was because I had asthma but reading all of the information on here it makes me wonder if it is from the Thalassemia. I was wondering if anyone knew if maybe these symptoms are caused by thal minor or if it is something else. It is becoming more and more obvious to me that many doctors believe that thal minor has no symptoms but it frustrates me to think that all of these people have the same exact symptoms and no one believes them. Are there any organizations, like March of Dimes or something like that, to which thal minors can use to raise money for research or something? I am terribly sorry to make such jumbled thoughts.

I would also like to say that I am soooo happy to find a place where people actually feel the same way I do. I'm only 19 years old and I feel so blessed to have been diagnosed early in my life so that I can plan my future. I would really appreciate any responses. Thanks so much!

Amanda

Amazingly familiar!

I was put on asthma meds too...and sometimes I can't quite catch my breath.  I found it helped a little but not much.  My neck hurts a lot and I get bad sun headaches.

I had something even scarier: in my first pregnancy my brain pressure shot up to 46 (normal is 8-10cc).  I don't know where it came from and I almost lost my eyesight.  I had permanent damage to my optic nerve and I still see circles when turning my head from side to side.

take headaches seriously please

Headache?  I ve been living with it too. doctor said, the anemia causing headache as there are lack of blood cells which supposed to distribute Oxygen to the brain.  try to work out regularly to improve the oxygen circulation, could b a walk every morning, or yoga. Dont do high impact work out, it'll b difficult to catch a breath 

Hi Natalia

It is so nice to see you posting again, welcome back

Thanks for the advice, i too live with migraines 

manal

There are varying levels of problems associated with thalassemia minor, due to the constant anemia.  Sometimes well transfused thal majors can do better than thal minors because much of the month their hg is higher than ours. 

Most thal minors have an enlarged spleen and some symptoms of hypoxia.  We are probably also prone to more aches and pains because our bone marrow has to work harder to keep our hg up - and our blood cells have shorter lives as compared to non thals. 

I know that I have an enlarged spleen - at least I did during my second pregnancy - I haven't had it re checked since that time. 

Sharmin

Hi all ,
please wait a minute , i want to say something that is, i think that ,  Migraine is completely another pain , its not happen in oly thal minors , a Noraml person could be a patient of migraine pain its nothing bcze of Thalassemia only ... its completely another probleme .. but , as a normal person could b a patient of migraine a thal could be as well  ( for example, fever thal and non-thals both people could have it ) ... soo try to find out the reason of trigering that pain ... why it get's trigered .. i know when this pain started patient can't bear with it , its pain in the half side of brain and patient want to do something like this and feel helpless bcoze this pain will not leave uptill its period got to its end .... wat i want to say that is not only bcoze of thal , its totaly another illnes , it has its own symptoms , ...

my brain pressure shot up to 46 (normal is 8-10cc).  I don't know where it came from and I almost lost my eyesight.  I had permanent damage to my optic nerve and I still see circles when turning my head from side to side

another reason of severe headache could be High blood pressure ( that i experienced several time when i forgoten to take my B.P Pills .... it is also something very severe , soo you should check for it as well ....

please check these links to find out the reason of pains ....

http://www.medicinenet.com/migraine_headache/article.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/migraine.html


i hope this will help you ....

Best Regards
Take Care
Umair

Umair,

Thanks for that info Umair.  You are right it is so easy to chalk it all up to thalassemia when you have unexplained symptoms.  A good proportion of people - thals and nonthals alike have migraines so it is no suprise that a fair number of thals have migraines. 
My good friend - who does not have thal - and she probably has a hg of 150 - complains about headaches all of the time - and she gets tired, hungry etc. much faster than I do. 

I think some amount of uneasyness, unwellness comes with the territory of being human - it is sometimes difficult to know when something is serious or when it is related to a particular condition.

Sharmin