Hi there. My name is Manda, I'm new here. I'm a 22 year old college junior majoring in psychology and art. For ten years I've been treated for iron defiecent anemia. Two weeks ago I went to the doctor because I was sleeping all the time and was sick. I just thought I had mono (I live in a dorm) and my iron levels had gotten low enough to make me physically ill. My doctors ruled out mono right away, and declared me a medical mystery (very reassuring). After talking to another doctor, they decided to run some tests. Well, anyway last week one of my doctors called me back and told me they were worried that my iron levels had dropped below normal (my normal). She told me that it was possible that I may have Thalassemia, but not to worry. She said that even though it was possible she wanted me to stick with my regular treatments of iron and vitamin c three times a day, come back in a month, and have my blood work retested. She said if my iron had improved, it's nothing to worry about, just the same old condition I have had for most of my life. If things hadn't improved however, she said we would have to find another course of treatment, and have me retested for Thalassemia. I asked her about this condition, and what could be done for it. I was horrified by what she told me. She said that if this is what I had, there was not much that could be done, except for closer monitoring of my iron levels.
I don't like vauge answers so I went looking for them. What I found scared me more than the unknown. I know I could be over reacting, I could just have very low iron levels (if that is the case, I feel terribly bad for it). This is very difficult for me, I think the waiting is worse than anything. All the what if's that run through my mind. I constantly compare my health issues to that of the signs and symptoms. I have always been extermley fatigued (another thing I chalked up to anemia), but last year I was diagnosed with SVT (where my heart beats way to fast at about 378 beats a minute), adn I recently discovered that heart diesease is a symptom of Thal.
I feel odd for gushing all of this, especially so pre-maturly. I just had to speak somewhere, I've spent the last week crying out of self pity (mainly becasue I am so scared). I have not yet told my paretns, any of my friends, or even my boyfriend. I've been reluctant to tell my parents, becuase non of the women on my dads side of the family have ever faired well with blood disorders (I've had two aunts, and a cousin die of lukemia, my grandmother had an odd liver disorder that they never figured out, plus so much more. I guess I'm scared and just looking for a place where someone might understand.
Anyway, this is about all I have to say for now, I'm going to take a look around.
![Huh? ???](http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/Smileys/classic/huh.gif)