Heart Failure and anaemia

[Kkatrina]

Morning my husband had his HA and CA last October. His iron levels have been borderline low since April. Does anyone take an iron supplement. Have been back and forth between hospital and GP over the last month and just wondered if an off the shelf iron and vitamin C. Tablet could help. Thanks

[Lezzers]

Hi Kkatrina, my husband has HF & his last few blood tests show his red cells, haemoglobin & lymphocyte have been decreasing & are now just outside normal range, his cardiologist & GP are not concerned as these things can sometimes correct themselves orit may not be low enough to be an issue. What does his nurse or GP say about it? My husband will be having more tests next month & if they're still reducing then it will be investigated. Anemia is not unusual with HF, how's his diet?

[Kkatrina in reply to Lezzers]

Thanks for replying. Diet not too bad hospital drs said to go to GP but GP said to leave it another month before retesting. Have left a message with his Heart Failure nurse so we’ll see what she says . Still finding our way around HF and find the extreme tiredness that he gets worrying at times. Nice to speak to someone in the same boat !

[Lezzers in reply to Kkatrina]

My husband had his HA & cardiac arrest nearly 22 years ago and was diagnosed with HF in 2012 & fitted him with an ICD. It's a lot to get your head around & tiredness is quite common, beta blockers can also contribute to the tiredness. There's quite a few people in the group with HF. Have you heard of the patient led HF charity Pumping Marvellous?

[Kkatrina in reply to Lezzers]

Haven’t heard of it but will look it up now thanks

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to Lezzers]

Snap!

I had a load of blood tests at the beginning of September, red cell count low and haemoglobin just below min threshold. Retested last week, just seen doctor on Tuesday, serum folate and serum vitamin B12 both low, getting yet another blood test next week to see if the results are still the same, if they doctor says it's a pill for the folate and injections for the B12

Looked on NHS site for symptoms of B12 deficiency - as normal I'm reading through them and going No, No No etc

[Lezzers in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Hi Russell, I'm not at home at the moment but when I am would you mind doing a comparison with the blood results? Kevin's had a few blood tests a month apart but even though the readings were still going down, GP said don't test for 3 months and then if the next test shows the same, they'll investigate why. Seemed a bit odd to wait 3 months!

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to Lezzers]

Just sent you a message with the details

Russell

[Janma123 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Hubby is on b12 injections along with folic acid and vitamin d3 tablets. Metformin and PPIs can reduce the body’s ability to extract b12 from foods ( and vegetarian/vegan diets can be lacking b12). As we age stomach acid reduces anyway. There is lots of info on the Pernicious Anemia Society forum on health unlocked.

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to Janma123]

Thanks for that. I'm on Metforim and have read that it can interfere with B12 absorption

[Lezzers]

My husband is currently part of a paper based trial for tiredness associated with chronic medical conditions. They're looking into how to combat it, it would impact so many lifes if they were able to do something about it.

[Kkatrina]

Thanks