Poor Appetite after Transfusion

Hello,

I am Anubha from India. My 5 year old daughter was diagnosed as a Thal Major when she was 3 months. Till April this year she was maintaining a Hb of 7.5 - 8 and so wasn't advised transfusions earlier. We were thinking she might be a Thal Intermedia than a Major. But in April as she was developing a fever on and off we got her Hb tested and it was quite low 5. She was advised transfusion immediately. Since then she has been transfused 4 times, but her Hb is not getting maintained. Yesterday she was again transfused, but she is still looking pale and has a poor appetite. In her earlier transfusions we could see a remarkable visible difference from her face and eyes. This time it is not as earlier.
We will again get her Hb tested day after tomorrow.
Any suggestions or advise.

Pls specify the quantity of blood transfused in each occasion. Whats her weight.

If she is transfused regularly and maintains Hb of 10 or above then it is just a matter of time when she gets back to normal. I don't think there is too much worry here, children will eat when they feel like it. I would make sure she is transfused well.

Also, it is very common mistake for parents to look for symptoms such as paleness to determine if their Hb is normal, this is not an indicator, sometimes a child looks pale but the Hb is normal. Only a valid Hb test can determine if Hb is normal.

Anubha,

I agree with Canadian Family, your child needs hypertransfusion - maintaining a hemoglobin above 9.5 will normalize your child's hemoglobin.   It takes several transfusions to build up the hemoglobin, if your child's starting point was 5, the transfusion may have brought it to 8.5 or 9 - if you repeat the transfusion 1 week later your child's hemoglobin level will build to be above 10.   

If your child has had a low hemoglobin for many years the spleen may also be big, it will take time for hypertransfusions to shrink the spleen.  An enlarged spleen breaks down red blood cells at a quicker rate. 

Low appetite is generally associated with low hemoglobin, but as Canadian_Family has said only a blood test can give an accurate picture of your child's levels.

Best of luck,

Sharmin

I agree with the others. The Hb needs to be brought up to a higher level and kept there. Your child will not grow and develop properly with low Hb.

i agree to others ,, reason of poor apetite could b an indication of low hb or   disturbed liver or spleen could be a reason of poor apetite too..  maintaining your hb above 9.5 ...


@ all ,
please correct me if i m wrong on 2nd point ...


(edited an editing mistake :D ... )

Hallo Umair ,
                     I am new in this forum and read lot of post  in various topics.  I am also glad to see you again.

I don't go the above topics and I'm not an expert. I am also a less knowledgeable person.
 I want to share one things. I am from West Bengal , eastern part of India.  Acidity, indigestion, gas and loss of apetite is very common in many bengali people who are  non thal having a good Hb level. I see many people who take antacid and digestive enzymes with meal. I think this is due to their bad food habits , not eating healthy, nutritious and easily digestible food. Some of them eat lot of oily spicy food .
I see some people who maintain very unhealthy lifestyle and none of them are health concious.

But being a thal with moderate Hb levels I am not suffer with this issue for long periods,  may be sometimes for short periods.

So a good diet is very important being healthy for thal and non thal both types of people.  And Andy Sir also said this in his many posts.

With Regards .

Jyoty,
in thalassemia if you manage your child's pre-transfusion hb abbove 9.5 and S.Fe witin normal range in his/her growing age , then no one even identify that your child is living with a condition called Thalassemia ...

I am new in this forum and read lot of post  in various topics.  I am also glad to see you again.
I don't go the above topics and I'm not an expert. I am also a less knowledgeable person.

Same here,, i m glad to back here too , and i m also a less knowledgeable person in-comparison to many other thalpals,, means i m still in learning process like you ...

about food :: Exactly ,,,,  though eating healthy and nutritous food is more important for thals but its  also important for a normal and healthy person too , to live a healthy life.... so this could be a reason as well ... you're right