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Blood transfusions

lari

lari

blood transfusions

I have been inte the hospital off and on for weeks battling pneumonia. . Due to my M.S. I have a hard time fighting off infections. Anyway I have gotten anemic again because of losing blood through the crohns symptoms during this flare-up for the last year.
Does anyone else have to rely on transfusions because of losing so much blood this way? I am taking iron pills now so I hope that helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
littlemissh

littlemissh

Hi, sorry uou are having a tough time.
I do need blood to stop me getting too anaemic. I have had a ridiculous number of transfusions over the last few months to maintain my hb and also iv iron every 2-3 months.
Recently I started humira in addition to my other meds and the gap between transfusions is lengthening.
I get them mostly on a day unit which is easy and all done in a day. Only if sudden big drop I end up in hospital ( like right now!) but that has only been 3 times.
They make me feel better and are a short term fix whilst the longer term fixes get working.
Have you needed a regular blood so far?
 
Kela80

Kela80

Location
Melbourne
I was getting iron and blood transfusion \ infusion every 6-8 weeks for 18 months. Finally had 80% of large bowel removed and a ileostomy and all the problems are gone. Hb and iron, albumin, platlettes back to normal.

In the end both my gi and hematologist believe it was due to severe inflammation because I was not visibly loosing large amounts of blood.
 
C

changeiscertain

Location
US
I have had to have blood transfusions in the past. I lose lots of blood and have also had to have two iron infusions (a year apart), because I can't tolerate oral iron. The iron infusions make me feel so much better and I would definitely recommend them for anybody who deals with regular bleeding and anemia.
 
lari

lari

This is all new to me even though I have had crohns for ten yrs or more. But this last flare-up has been worse. If others like you are faced with transfusions then I will have to discuss more with my doctor. Surgery of any lind is not an option for me
Too high risk they tell me. But I wish I could just take the whole colon out.I haven't tried humira or rricade yet. So much to deal with and my only thought now is how much blood am I losing?
 
R

ruthyp

yes, when i flare i get such major bowel bleeds that in 2 months i had 5 tranfusions. One of those though i didnt lose any blood, i was just very anemic and they wanted to 'perk me up' as quick as they could because the iron tablets take a few weeks to work. I did feel ALOT better after each one though x
 
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