Consider the prayers said. You need to gain some weight. I am sure giving a unit of blood will help you as well as someone else with all that rich iron. You realize your "curse" is another persons "blessing".

I think of my brain tumor and depression in the same light.

i was hoping to gain my freshman 15 but that didn't happen. :( i'm trying to but i don't wanna gain just straight up fat since that's not super healthy.
I'm trying to stay positive about everything, but sometime i just get so fed up with being tired all the time. most day i don't have time for a nap and i hate having to go to bed so early. I'm glad that i don't have a worse disease, or cancer, but this still stinks.

have you tried weight gain shakes? my g.f used those to gain 15lbs and she didn't put on any fat ...or maybe try weight lifting to gain in muscle.. just a thought.. I too go to see my hematologist on friday, I am going to ask him to give me a phelb and ask him to get me down to under 50 and then take blood 1x a month to see how fast or slow my ferritin rises then I will know if I have to phelb 1x every few months to stay under 50.. I hope he agrees with this or he will have a fight on his hands..LOL I do not give up until I get what I want.. :) good luck emma on friday

I'm going to ask him if he thinks i should gain weight so i can just donate rather then phelb. good luck to you too! i hope he listens to you!

I hope you start feeling better soon!

I'm surprised you haven't started treatment yet. I have to start next week. Not looking forward to it but I know it will help.

I would think you'd have to go more often than giving blood allows. I don't know what your levels are at, but my ferritin is a little over 500 and I have to go every other week. The hematologist wrote me an order..I go in to the blood bank and they draw as much as he says and as often as he says, and he set a minimum hemoglobin (11 for me). So I'd think the doctor would need to give you an order? Because I believe they only let people give blood every 60 days or so and if you're just starting treatment I'd think you would need to go more often.

So now I am confused. Sorry everyone I am a little slow sometimes.

Donate meaning you go in every six months or whenever the time frame is allowed.

Phlebotomy meaning you have a prescription and go as often as the doctor says?

i'm pretty sure you can donate every 5 weeks? or something like that. I think for a phlebotomy you have to do it where your doctor tells you too. I'll figure out tomorrow haha

Here in Canada where I am from you can donate every 56 days at the blood bank when you get Phlebotomy it usually done under a doctors orders like a script and they set the pace as to how much blood is taken and how often.

I see my new Hematologist at 9:30 this morning wish me luck :)

oh ok. good luck!! i go at 2:40 today :)

So i went today, and i was not very happy with my dr. He said my feritin was 39 so i didn't need to start phelbs yet. and that since i'm tired all the time, i should sleep more. I'm not going back for a year, and he said when my labs came back, if my iron level was bad that he would call me. I asked about the Emu oil and he said he had never heard of it helping, but that it was worth a shot.

Well Emma your ferritin is plenty low enough , you do not need to phleb, I was at 43 last week. What was your iron? I think you should look into why you are so tired all the time, maybe something else is going on.
In the state I am from you can only donate every 8 weeks.

he is supposed to call me on monday and tell me what it is. I also am having really bad leg aches, pretty much from my knees down feel like they wanna just jump off. its kinda like when they fall asleep and start waking back up, plus aching. :(

Have you ever checked out restless leg syndrome? If your Iron is low too I would check into this it says that lower ferritin levels and low Iron levels have a connection to this..


Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a metabolic sleep disorder that causes feelings in the legs that sufferers have described using words such as: tingling, numbness, pins and needles, tiredness, itching, uneasiness, pain, cramping, aching, burning, creeping, crawling, simply indescribable...

how long have you been donating?

just curious. 39 is pretty low.

i haven't ever donated. they only time i've had blood take was for tests.