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Old Sat Oct 20, 2012, 02:03 PM
TASHMAC TASHMAC is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Cayman Islands
Posts: 56
JUST diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia

Hi, I have just been diagnosed (yesterday) with Aplastic Anemia and have the following questions:

a) I have been told that the pathologist reading my bone marrow biopsy and aspiration did not consider either of the samples to be good enough to sign off that the bone marrow was clearly considered Aplastic

b) can nutrient deficiency lead to aplastic anemia and if so can this not be easily fixed with improved nutrition.

If you have the time to read my story below that would be great as I am looking for any insight people may have.

I am a mum of 2 beautiful loving girls aged 18 months and 3, I have a very loving husband and am nearly 36 years old and until about 2 weeks thought I was just tired and run down due to working full time (with a very stressful job), having 2 little girls aged 3 and under, lack of sleep (as both my girls have been terrible sleepers - until about a month ago I was lucky to get 3 hours sleep in a row, most nights I would get between 5 and 6 hours sleep but not consecutive) and not eating properly as never seem to have the time.

I decided to go to the doctor on 3 October as for about 2 months I had noticed that I was bruising more easily, had developed some skin conditions (dandruff, a crack on my lip that would not heal), had a persistent sore throat and a runny noise. My GP took one look at me and said I was very run down and decided to do blood tests. I don't think she was expecting anything to serious to come back. She told me to start taking a multivitamin and to make more effort to eat better. On the 11th of October my blood results were back and my WBC, RBC and PLTs were all low. My PLTs were at 58 and my WBC and RBC were around 3.5. My folate level was also low about 5.2. But my B12 level was in the normal range (although the low side of normal). So she said lets run the tests again. She ran the tests again and this time my RBC and WBC were both down a little further but my PLTs were up to 63 so she felt that that was a positive sign. She decided to give me a B12 shot and told me to come back on Saturday for some more tests. On Saturday they ran my blood again and this time all levels had fallen again and PLTs were at 48. They decided to admit me to hospital and to start me on prednisone. After 3 doses of prednisone they checked my blood and my PLTs had fallen to 40 but my WBC had increase to 5.5 and my hemoglobin had fallen a bit.

They completed a pelvic and abdominal ultrasound and all organs appeared normal. They under took a CT scan of my brain and normal.

They decided that it was time to do a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration. On Tuesday they did the bone marrow aspiration and biopsy. On Wednesday my PLTs had dropped to 29 and WBC and RBC were both low 3's.

On Thursday my PLTs were up to 34 and they decided no need for a blood transfusion. My RBC was 2.72, WBC 3.1, hemaglobin 9.9 and HCT 27.2%. Neut% 27.1 and LYM% 69.2.

On Friday my WBC was 3.0 my RBC 2.75, my PLTs 31, hemaglobin 10 and LYM%82. They considered my blood stable but based on all my results, symptoms and bone marrow that I have moderate aplastic anemia.

I started Cyclosporine 100mg twice a day Friday evening.

They have ruled out HIV, Lupus, parvovirus, epstein-barr (although I have had at some stage of my life). They are checking for dengue fever now.

I have also lost weight not a huge amount but a reasonable amount in the probably 10 pounds in 2 months. I am by no means skinny I am about 5'9 and weigh 139 pounds. About a US size 6.

My muscles feel sore and at times it feels like my organs are getting caught on my bones.... hard to explain.

My doctor has not really given me much information. My friends have all been researching like crazy and I feel like all I read is negative and I am terrified. I really want someone to tell me that if I start taking better care of myself that this will all go away. My girls need me.

Last edited by TASHMAC : Sat Oct 20, 2012 at 02:31 PM. Reason: more information
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