Labs back... Platelets?
According to this http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/platelet/ta b/test iron deficiency sometimes causes the platelets to be high, not low. I would talk to your doc about the platelets.
Are you increasing your iron?
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
how low is your iron? How low are your platelets? What is your White blood count? What is your RBC?
Your low iron can be due to any menstruating female having iron deficiency anemia. I really need to see more of your labs to better answer your question and help you out better. The other cause of low iron is due to our malabsorbtion from your RNY - you may not be taking enough iron, you may be taking the wrong type of iron, you may be taking it incorrectly. What is your ferritin level? your iron sat%, hemoglobin, hemacrit? B12, folate? How much iron are you taking and what type are you taking? Do you take it with vitamin C and if so, how much C? You should take carbonyl iron with C - for every 30mg of iron, you need 200mg of vitamin C. Depending on how low your iron and ferritin are, determines how much Carbonyl iron you need. You can get really good iron at vitalady.com called tender irons and they have the C already in them. They are 60mg each.
As far as platelets - it depends on how low they are. The normal range is 150,000 to 400,000. They dont really consider it a problem other than to watch until they go below 100,000. Then if, below 100,000 - then they just star****ching them. It isnt until they really go below 50,000 that you have to be concerned and they can cause you to develop any type of bruising or bleeding problems. People that have levels below 20,000 they need to go on treatment because they can have spontaneous bleeding - like nosebleeds, bleeding gums, etc. There are several different treatments like steroids, IVIG - which I am on IVIG for my Immunesystem, so without knowing it is also helping my low platelets. The medical condition for low platelets is called ITP.
Some people just have low platelets and nothing else. Some people have low platelets, low white counts and low red counts - that is called pancytopenia - that is what I have and was diagnosed during a bone marrow biopsy. My White blood counts are always around 2.8 to 4.0, my platelets are usually around 90-110 but when I am in the hospital having surgery for some reason and it has nothing to do with bleeding they tend to plummet to 30 or 40 and then slowly increase. It is really weird and no one knows why. They jus****ch them carefullly.
If your platelets continue to be low and your iron and ferritin continue to be low, you should go see a hematologist - that is there specialty. If you would like to send me a copy of your labs, I would be glad to go over them in detail with you. Good luck
