Low hemoglobin? | Imamother

amother

Lawngreen

Fri, May 20 2016, 10:35 am

My daughter has been sick with a virus all week along with fever. Baruch Hashem she is no longer sick, bli ayin hara, but I was a little concerned over the course of the week so I took her to the doctor yesterday to get blood work done. The doctor called me this morning and said that she wants my daughter retested in 2 weeks because my daughter's hemoglobin was a little low. She said it could be because of the virus but wants her retested either way. I am now a little concerned. Could her hemoglobin be low due to the virus or should I be concerned? I dont want to be a nervous wreck for the next 2 weeks.

amother

Coffee

Sat, May 21 2016, 4:10 pm

I'm a biologist (but not a doctor!) - temporary low hemoglobin could definitely be from being sick (either directly from being sick, or not eating well while being sick). You really don't need to worry too much about this - if it's from being sick, the levels should go back up to normal or near normal within the next few weeks (why your doc wants another blood test in two weeks).

Also, if it's only a little low, whether from being sick, or in general, it's nothing to worry about - many people have hemoglobin levels that are a little low, and this can be fixed easily with vitamin supplements (iron and/or B12) or by increasing iron / B12 intake in your diet without needing anything else.

I personally wouldn't give any supplements before the next blood test, since you wouldn't want to mask a low hemoglobin level if that's an ongoing thing - if the next blood test results came back normal, you wouldn't know if your child needs a supplement on a regular basis or not.

In the meantime, you could try to make sure that your daughter is eating foods with iron / vitamin B12 - dark green leafy vegetables, red meat, some breakfast cereals, etc. Don't go overboard on this, since you want the next blood test to give an accurate picture of your daughter's hemoglobin levels, but making sure her diet is balanced in this way in general will tell you whether your daughter's hemoglobin levels are normal when she is healthy and eating well.

So, even if her levels are still a bit low in two weeks, this can be managed easily by adding an iron and/or B12 supplement - it's just taking a vitamin every morning and that's it!

Either way, your daughter should be fine! Refuah shleimah!