Hi all! I recently found Thalforum and am really glad to have such a wealth of feedback and information!
I am a beta thal minor. My father and grandfather, along with thal, also have hemochromatosis, but I've never been diagnosed with that. I'm having some health problems that I think might somehow be related to or complicated by thal and I'd love to know if anyone has had a similar experience:
About 2 months ago I started feeling very fatigued. Couldn't seem to ever get enough sleep and woke up tired every day. Went to the doctor, who did a blood workup. The results:
- Hemogram was normal for me/a thal. Hemoglobin was 10.2 (my last one over two years ago showed about 12).
- Serum iron was high: 256 (28-170). But Total Iron Binding Capacity was normal: 346 (261-478).
- Serum Transferrin was normal: 241 (220-400).
She advised me to continue folic acid and get lots of sleep. Not long after, I started feeling pressure and discomfort in my lower left chest/upper left abdomen, what seems to be under my heart and beside my stomach. Over the last two weeks, it has increased into a dull pain that I can feel around in my back, accompanied sometimes by sharper pains and muscle spasms in that area. My spleen has been enlarged once or twice before when I have had infections and I know this is related to thal. But the pain I'm feeling now seems higher than the pain and swelling I had with an enlarged spleen and my doc couldn't palpate my spleen.
My other symptoms are diarrhea intermixed with green stools, very strong nausea and other sundry gastro symptoms (cramps, etc.). I've had tests to rule out bacterial infections and amoebas/parasites. And amylase (pancreatic enzyme) and liver function tests came back normal.
I had an ultrasound yesterday and the doctor said I have an enlarged spleen and liver. My pancreas is fine and she didn't see any evidence of gallstones (which I know we thals are prone to). She also mentioned that thalessemics also have a naturally enlarged liver, which I had never heard before: Is that true? In short, she did not seem to think that my big organs were abnormal for me... So, result: inconclusive.
The next test is my line-up is an endoscopy next week. But the pain and nausea is really interfering with my ability to work and I spend my time at home laying down. Has anyone experienced anything like this before?
Thanks,
Lea
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