If you were a person with low haemoglobin and had alpha thallasaemia trait would you take iron tablets or only

Question

folate and b12 ? what would be the effect on the haemoglobin on taking the iron- would it lead to worsening of the aneamia or would it not have any effect on the anaemia? would it in fact be dangerous for some?

Answer 1

The med student is right. I'm an MD. Iron should not be given to treat your illness b/c it will cause iron overload. Iron overload can potentially damage all of your organs (liver, pancrease, brain, etc) and does not improve the anemia.

Answer 2

That would be like fixing a hole in your wall by putting new shingles on the roof. folate, B12, and iron are not the main issue in alpha thallasemia, it is dysfunctional genes for the protein component of hemoglobin. There are four alpha hemoglobin genes. a deletion of one or two is often asymptomatic, and four is fatal in utero.

However, folate is part of the treatment due to the high turnover of RBCs. The other part is transfusion and iron chelation therapy to deal with the resultant iron overload. Splenectomy is also considered in younger patients.

Bone marrow transplant is also an option too.

Future therapies are looking at stem cell transplant and alteration fo gene transcription.