question about pregnancy

I am 41 with beta thal minor trait looking to get preg with 1st child and wanted some advice. here is my last cbc: wbc 6.8
rbc 5.53
hgb 12.2
hct 38.6
mcv 69.9
mch 22
mchc 31.5
rdw 14.5
plt 523
mpv 8.1
and 6 months before that my iron was 138
tibc 416
uibc 278 % iron sat 33
ferritin st 255.8
hgb a1 >93.7
hemoglobin a2 5.3%

any advice appreciated

Hi Thumper,

Your values all look good, and your Hb level is fine for a thal minor. You should be taking at least 1 mg folic acid if you are trying to get pregnant, as this is advised for all women trying to get pregnant or pregnant. I would also suggest natural vitamin E.

it was suggested I take an overall prenatal vitamin but i am concerned about the iron in it - do you think it would be better to take folic acide and maybe cal/mag , vit e etc instead of an all inclusive vitamin .
another thing i am curious about is the fact that i apparently have high paltelette high iron and high red blood but low mcv, mch which sounds kinda different from everything else that i read

Add B complex and vitamin D with the cal/mag and you've got better nutrition than any multivitamin on the market. Your MCV will always be low because the red blood cells of thal minors are smaller in general than normal. MCV and MCH are always normally low for thal minor and are some of the indications used for diagnosing thal minor. Your ferritin is slightly high. Have you taken iron in any form in the past? Often minors are given iron by doctors who mistakenly believe it can help with anemia, but it can't if the anemia has another cause such as thal minor. Platelet testing often comes back with strange results in thals, mostly because the tech doing the test does not recognize that some of what is being counted as platelets are actually malformed red blood cells. Unless this is seen regularly in test results, it's unlikely that platelets are actually high. Again, vitamin E can help counter the effects of high platelets as it is a mild blood thinner and a good antioxidant, which has importance in countering the oxidative effects of the bad red cells produced because one of the beta globin genes is affected.

i havent taken iron in 20 years but way back then i had doctors telling me to. i stopped on my own because quite frankly it ran right through me. my hemotologist told me recently if any doctor suggests iron to tell hem he said i shouldnt. so lets see if i got this right 1 mg folic acid, vitamin e, vitamin b complex and vitamn d plus calcium and magnisium - would it be possible for you to give me some guidance as to how much of each to take daily. and then its probably not wise to  take the multi vitamin with the iron added in - by the way this site is incredible, i have spent my life being only kinda diagnosed (20 + years ago a dr told me thats probably what i had but no use testing for it - nothing to do about it) it was only recently i was sent to a hemotologist because a neurologist trying to figure out why i had such headaches thought my blood work looked funny. the hemotologist now makes me come in every 6 months to check platelets to make sure dont get to high- he basically said i have thick overachieving blood and suggested a low dose aspirin a day (i dont do so good with that) should that stay in the list of things to take while trying to conceive

The "thick" blood is due to the amount of "clutter" in the blood of thal minors. This clutter is composed of the irregularly shaped small red blood cells, the by-products of the destruction of these bad RBC's and the unmatched alpha globin chains which form tetramers. A daily aspirin is often recommended. Vitamin E does have a positive effect on this situation, as previously noted.

My basic recommendations for thal minors in general follow.


Thal minor

B-Complex 100   One daily

Vitamin C    200-500 mg daily.
* If your iron level is high, take the lower amount of C
If you bruise easily, take some vitamin C.

Vitamin D   1000-5000 IU daily. Deficiency may require
doses as high as 50,000 IU per week.
*The best thing to do is get your D level checked. Odds
are that 1/2 to 2/3 of people reading this are deficient in
vitamin D. Your level should be minimum 35. Optimum
level is  50-70.  The importance of vitamin D should not
be ignored. D is necessary for the absorption of dozens
of nutrients, including essential minerals.

Vitamin E Natural Complex -Mixed Tocopherols preferred
400-800 IU daily
*Synthetic vitamin E should be avoided. Do NOT take
more than 100 IU daily of synthetic E.
Look for d-alpha tocopherol. Avoid dl-alpha.

Folic acid   1000-5000 mcg daily (1-5 mg)

If calcium is required  500-1500 mg with magnesium 250-750 mg daily

(By the way, for thal minors who may be iron deficient, it may be worthwhile to try vitamin C with your meals to aid in absorbing iron from food before taking iron supplements).

Funny thing about thick blood,no body ever told me that i had thick blood,but i always felt like it,coz i can never sit with my legs crossed too long or even bent,coz it feels like my blood circulation gets slowed down in my calves if my legs are crossed,my legs would either go numb or i'll need a moment or two after standing up before walking,and i'd literally feel my blood rushing down when i stand up.to tell you the truth it does limit my movement sometimes.