Welcome Maria,
It is nice to have you here. Maria, generally thalassemia minor is not considered to be a major disorder or disease. Thalassemia
minor, also referred to as thalassemia trait - is the carrier state of thalassemia. When searching, be sure that you are searching thal minor and not thal major. In most cases doctors consider thalassemia minor to be non symptomatic - which is why carriers may inadvertantly pass it on to their children (never knowing that they carry it). There is a 50% chance that each of your children may carry it as well.
Generally thalassemia minor is usually not something to worry about, many of the severe symptoms we discuss on this board relate to thalassemia major - which occurs when two thalassemia parents have a child - in which case there is a 25% chance that their offspring will inherit the thalassemia gene from both parents. In this case the child would not be able to produce a sufficient red blood supply and require blood transfusions within the first few years of life.
My husband and I are both thalassemia minors and neither of us has any issues with it, which is why my husband did not realize was a carrier until we decided to get married. My only symptom of thalassemia was fatigue during my second pregnancy. Most others in my family or my husbands have generally had no symptoms.
Some people do experience mild to moderate symptoms such as fatigue and hypersplenism (some increase in the size of their spleen). Your aneurysm and your blood vessel problem is likely not related to thalassemia. Also remember that one of your parents, one of your grandparents, your siblings, your aunts and uncles are also possible carriers. If most of them have done well with thalassemia then you can take comfort in that. Personally, unless if your doctor feels that any problems you are experiencing a related to your thalassemia trait - then you don't need to worry about the thalassemia very much.
It would be useful information for your sons to know if they carry thalassemia minor because as Zaini mentioned, when they plan their families, and if their partners also carry the trait they may want to see a genetic counsellor. Generally, I don't think that thalassemia minor is a serious disorder - symptoms in most cases are mild. Personally, if I had a child with thalassemia minor I would not be at all concerned.
I hope that your medical professionals will spend more time explaining your results with you as well. I hope that they also discuss what other tests they are performing and why, I can imagine feeling frightened because of the lack of information. I hope that the issue is resolved very soon. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have anymore questions - even if they do not related to thalassemia. We have great experts here:)
Please keep us posted on your follow up appointments and let us know how you are doing, we will be thinking of you.
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a very warm welcome to our site,
Sharmin
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