Hemoglobin at 5.8 what damage could be done to the body?

[Kathyete]

My mom has had a hemoglobin for the past 7 weeks, she was in hospice care so no transfussions. My aunt took her from the nursing home and now they are trying to get her transfussions. I'm worried about what possable damage has been done to her because of the low counts.

[Birgitta-A]

Hi Kathy,
As far as I understand we can manage without organ damage with a very low HGB if has developed slowly as your mothers anemia has. I tried to look at PubMed for the answer of the question "How low HGB is too low" but didn´t find any answer. The heart, the kidneys and the brain seem to be the first organs that can be damaged but hopefully your mother will manage OK after transfusions :).
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
Dx MDS 67 yo with a HGB of 70 and shortness of breath when climbing steep hills or long staircases as only symptom

[Marlene]

It depends on how she's feeling, how active she is, how strong her heart is, etc. John went around for quite a while with a HGB of 5.5 before he knew he had AA. He was working full time and maintaining his regular schedule. It was not until he got really bad headaches and couldn't catch his breath that he realized something was wrong.