My father hb levels have been going down for past 4 months.He has had 2 rounds of chemo (last one on 21st october).His hb was 8.2 at that time,8.0 on 29th november and now it is 7.5 on 4th january.
It has been more than 2 months since he stopped chemo due to excessive weakness.His platelets and wbc count is in normal range.
why is his haemoglobin level getting low ?
Chemotherapy, ADT drugs, etc take iron out of the body. I take an iron supplement and have had couple of iron infusions.
how much did it help to raise hb levels?
I got a prescription for heavy duty iron. It didn't help all that much. That's why I an getting iron infusions once in a while.
I remember my MO telling me that ADT can lower Hb levels. My father had a very low Hb at 7.5 when starting ADT so the doc suggested blood transfusion. Due to COVID we instead got iron ampules administered at a nearby nursing home. Hb climed to 12 in 3 weeks.
He might have bone marrow invasion by the PCa, that can interfere with the function of the bone marrow.
I would not take iron unless he is shown to be deficient through testing, iron can be toxic if levels are excessive.
These are things he can discuss with his doctor.
his iron levels are 80(range 65-170) and vitamin b12 is 138(range 211-911)
if the low hb had been a result of bone marrow invasion, wouldn't his platelets and wbc count be low as well?the latter two are in right range so i doubt if low hb is due to marrow invasion
My understanding is bone marrow invasion can effect any of the cell lines individually, but if that's wrong I'm happy to be corrected by anyone who has a source I can review.
Would also like to know what his doctor says.
I'm definitely going to be asking my doctor about this, but won't see him until the end of the month.
I do know that bone marrow invasion with PCa is generally a late-stage devleopment with hormone-refractory cancer.
I did discuss this with my doctor today. He said that the WBC count is not usually a problem, mostly the reds and platelets. He said it's rarely just one cell line. Typically it would be RBCs and platelets. WBC replicate more quickly so they are not as susceptible.
A combination of castration, chemo and bone marrow invasion by the cancer (if he has many bone metastases) can cause the drop in hemoglobin. The anemia in this situation is mainly normocytic and normochromic anemia, indicating it is not due to a problem with iron.
Anyone been on Taxotere longer than 10 months?
Climbing psa but low testosterone 
6 or 8 rounds of chemo
Advanced Stage 4 Prostate Cancer with Mets
Chemotherapy Covid 19 
