Haemoglobin and RBC

Hi
just been told its unusual for thal minors to have normal levels of haemoglobin with high levels of rbc. Is this correct or does it make no difference? Could endurance sport be the reason for this? Mch and mcv are bothlow if that makes a difference?

Thal minors have overactive bone marrow and as a result their RBC level is almost always either on the high end of normal or slightly above normal, because they produce more red blood cells than non-thals. Unfortunately, this means more of the useless, pale red cells are also produced, which is why the count is higher. If a minor does not have a high RBC, iron deficiency may be suspected.

Sorry my question wasn't very clear. The part that I was told was unusual was my normal haemaglobin level. They said thals normally have low levels of haemaglobin and couldn't understand why mine would be normal. My iron is normal but ferritin and folate at the lower end of normal. Hope that makes more sense

Many minors have normal hemoglobin levels. This is why many minors never learn their status. It may be a milder mutation, a higher production of fetal hemoglobin than normal or the presence of an alpha thal deletion that explains why. You will still have certain characteristics of thal minors that can be detected in a CBC, such as a high RBC, low MCV and MCH and the visual observation of some pale small red blood cells. A hemoglobin electrophoresis would reveal a higher than normal HbA2 (unless an alpha deletion is also present) and a measurable amount of fetal hemoglobin, HbF. Even with a normal level Hb, some minors still have some symptoms, as part of the total is HbF, which is not as efficient at delivering oxygen to the body, so the Hb can look normal but the minor may still have some fatigue and tiredness.