By Dr. Guillermo Santos
Betances Health Center
New York City
What is anemia?
Anemia is a condition where the body manufactures an abnormally low level of red blood cells. It afflicts 95 percent of patients with HIV and it's a common complication of HIV and AIDS in the treatments that they take for their condition.
How can you find out if you're anemic?
Your doctor can run a simple laboratory test in the clinic in the hospital, and it's called cell blood count, where you can measure hemoglobin and hematocrit.
What is hemoglobin?
Hemoglobin is a molecule that carries the oxygen to all tissues of your body. Your body needs oxygen, such as a car needs gasoline. It's the fuel of all the living cells in your body.
How can you find out your hemoglobin count?
I repeat, you can have a cell blood count done by your provider, and you can go over the results with your provider and determine whether you have anemia or not. The normal levels of hemoglobin for a female are between 12 and 14 grams per deciliter. For a male, it's 14 and 16. Anemia might be considered anything below this. A number of 8, a hemoglobin of 8, is a dangerous, low level, and it needs to be urgently treated.
The most common complaint of patients with anemia is fatigue, and sometimes people with HIV and AIDS feel or think that they are supposed to be feeling fatigued and tired, and fatigue starts to interrupt their daily activities, such as cooking, going shopping, working, talking to friends.
There are other common symptoms that are associated with fatigue that people might associate with psychological issues. Their sex drive goes down. Their mood varies from day to day. There's a loss of spontaneity.
Other symptoms of anemia that are important-not that common, but important-are headaches, ringing in the ears, and shortness of breath. These are indications that you have a severe anemia and it needs to be treated urgently.
The causes of anemia may include HIV disease, and we don't know exactly why. It might be poor nutrition. Also, tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium can cause anemia, and cancers such as lymphoma, which are common in patients with AIDS, can also cause anemia.
The assessment of anemia is done by your provider or you yourself can bring it up to your doctor and have a CBC done. Go over the lab results with your provider and ask specifically about your hemoglobin level, and discuss any changes in your health status with your provider.
If you're anemic, there are treatments for it. One, if it's related to nutrition, you can supplement vitamin B12, iron. If you're severely anemic, then perhaps you need a blood transfusion, or you can also treat anemia with erythropoietin alfa.
Treating that anemia that is nutritionally related is easily done through supplementation of vitamin B12, iron, or folic acid.
If you're severely anemic and you're symptomatic, then a blood transfusion is in order. However, there are risks with blood transfusions. You can have a transfusion of a blood-borne pathogen. For people with HIV and AIDS, their immune systems are more susceptible to acquiring some of these infections.
Treating anemia with epoetin alfa
Epoetin alfa is a manufactured copy of erythropoietin, which is a hormone manufactured in the kidneys that stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. Epoetin alfa is used to treat anemia, especially in patients with low levels of erythropoietin.
It has a good safety profile. It's administered by subcutaneous injection once, twice, or three times a week. Epoetin alfa can increase and maintain the levels of hemoglobin and hematocrit in people with HIV and AIDS suffering of anemia.
Just because you have HIV and AIDS does not mean that you must feel tired, that you must live with fatigue. Talk to your provider. Keep track of your hemoglobin and hematocrit. Know your medicines. You know your body best.
Anemia is an easily treated condition. Regain your energy.
Also check these sites:
Unofficial site of Gulf Coast Community Care
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