[Marlene]

John had Aplastic Anemia, not MDS. But he went through some intense chemo and lot of drugs which took a toll on his body. Fatigue was major. What's interesting is that before treatment when his HGB was 5.5 he was not fatigued. And he did really well with just red cell transfusion with regards to fatigue. But after chemo, things were different. I have two friends who recently finished chemo/radiation for breast cancer and fatigue is problem for them. Both have normal blood counts. So something else is at work here.

Last December, John started acupuncture. It has made a big difference in his stamina and fatigue level. He then added some nutrients to improve his mitochondria funtion (helping his cells to convert glucose to engergy). Again, a major difference for him. We kept thinking that his fatigue would ease as his red cells came up but there was no difference when his HGB was 10 or 11.

On the nutrient check....did your GP check your homocystine and MMA levels? That would be the only way to really verify that your body is using the B12. Also, if you were supplementing with B12, then it will be high. Most people take the cyno form of B12 and may not convert it to
the active form. Assessing B12 via serum is the least accurate test.

Regarding the bone marrow biopsy. Since you are already nervous about it, demand sedation. John will never get another without it. Everyone is different and some feel nothing, while for others, it's not so pleasant. The thing is, you don't know until you get one. For him, the second part of the procedure was bad for him...the marrow aspiration. There's a recent thread on BMB biopsies and you'll see the varied responses.

Marlene