Are there ways to self-monitor the hemoglobin ... - CLL Support
Are there ways to self-monitor the hemoglobin level? My husband's was down to 6.2 before the weekly blood draw with no apparent symptoms.
That's a very good question! The only accurate way is by checking blood haemoglobin levels, which requires a drop of blood . You can even buy home hemoglobin blood testers nowadays. I don't know how accurate or repeatable they are, but given a downward trend is what you are looking for, that could be an option.
Some doctors reckon they can get a good idea by observing general symptoms including how pink your gums and conjunctival sac look. (You can see your conjunctival sac by pulling out your bottom eyelid.)
I'm actually amazed that your husband had no apparent symptoms with such a low hemoglobin level. The effects of less oxygen being delivered to the body are normally very obvious with much smaller drops in haemoglobin levels. I would expect that a rough indication of how healthy your hemoglobin levels are could be judged by getting a feel for how you go with some brisk exercise, like seeing how many stairs you can climb or how far you can walk at a brisk pace before becoming breathless.
Most importantly, how is your husband doing now after his chemo and how are his hemoglobin levels holding up?
Neil
The hemoglobin was low before chemo and hasn't stabilized, so he's gotten a transfusion roughly once a week since July 24th. He still has fatigue and was neutropenic, but that has resolved. We'll find out on Tues if the 2nd cycle of chemo will start as planned.
A pre chemo blood check just before cycle 4 of FCR gave a Haemoglobin of 4.7 I was rushed into hospital and given 6 units of blood over several days. My only sympton was slightly out of breath on climbing the stairs and walking a reasonable distance. I later found out that my bottom eyelids should have shown a decent redness (they were pale in colour)
my hemoglobin had been dropping for about three months it went from 12.4 to 6.2 after witch they wanted to give me a blood transfusion for which I said no because I don't believe in them and feel the risk is not worth it. they gave me intervenes iron for about a week . but after I started drinking orange juice I noticed it starting to go up . when I left the hospital my level was 6.7 after they sent me home I started taking a iron pill every morning with a glass of orange juice and three weeks later it was back up to 12.4 . the doctor was surprised and asked me what I did , so I told him . your hemoglobin is low when you look at your bottom eyelids the will be more white than pink . mine were white , now they are a nice pink .
