hi I am a new member, when my daughter was born I was told she was mildly anemic. My doctor said to give liquid iron drops. My daughter hated them (who wouldn't) so when she turned a year old I started her on Flintstones vitamins, and after a month, this caused her iron level to rise within normal range, but still on the low side. She doesn't show other symptoms, and my pediatrician said she thought my daughter could have thalassemia trait but would need further testing. we decided to wait because we were not aware of thalassemia running in the family, even though my husband is Thai. In the 70's I guess they didn't check for anemia unless babies showed signs. I'm caucasian, only Western European descent on my side.
then my son was born, again born anemic. at 15 months he got another upper resp. infection, and my pediatrician diagnosed him with asthma. my husband was diagnosed at 5 with asthma, and has it more severely than my son. at 6 months old my son was hospitalized with a high fever, 105. they found no bacteria present and it took 8 doses of tylenol and advil to drop it a degree, 3 days to break it.
since then he gets high fevers, around 103-104 about once every 6-8 weeks. his body doesn't seem to regulate temp. well. if he plays outside in summer, he gets fatigued and wakes up with 102 fever or higher. if he swims, no fever results. it doesn't have to be very hot outside really, he just has to play hard, and he's down for the count for 2-3 days afterwards.
he gets illnesses easily, and always gets fevers with them that are difficult to control. in november I had him tested and my pediatrician said he has thalassemia trait for sure, and they were pretty sure it was alpha.
my daughter has no symptoms except the anemia, but can get tired and cranky if she doesn't take her daily vitamin for awhile.
I am very worried about my son's health because of the frequent fevers. I have an appt. with a new asthma doctor at the childrens hospital because I worry that he is getting too much steroid treatment, but it helps with the fevers and his asthma. I think I'll make an appt. with a hematologist because I read that thals don't need additional iron. but I also read that thals can also be iron deficient.
does anyone else get frequent fevers with thal.? I found out recently from my mother in law that my husband had high fevers as a kid, and had severe asthma attacks. he was treated for asthma and has some severe allergies, but never knew about the thal. he doesn't get fevers as an adult, but does get bad headaches and major fatigue after playing a round of golf.
I am just wondering about the fevers, is this common? thank you and sorry for the lengthy post!