How to cure iron deficiency anemia and intolerance to milk?
Patient's Query
Hi doctor,
My child, who is six years old, felt sick on his birthday this year (one week ago), complaining of fatigue. He looks pale and is vomiting. We took him for blood tests. His red blood cells were way below normal, 3.8; the doctor sent us to an oncology hospital, suspecting leukemia. Later, they said it was severe anemia because iron was deficient.
They gave him iron through the perfusion, and they were supposed to discharge him from the hospital today. The latest check looks like he is not assimilating the iron still, and the red cell's situation did not improve. They advised endoscopy and colonoscopy, suspecting internal bleeding.
Is the course of the current investigation right? Should we look into a different approach to the treatment? What would you suspect or advise in this case? He is also intolerant of cow's milk.
Please advise.
Thank you.
Hi,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
I understand your concern.
Anemia is common in malabsorption diseases (cow milk intolerance in your case). Iron deficiency takes six months to develop in case of reduced intake, absorption, or loss via blood. They are probably doing endoscopy or colonoscopy because of milk intolerance to rule out irritable or inflammatory bowel diseases.
After intravenous infusion of iron, it takes one to two months to increase hemoglobin and red cells. There is also some immunodeficiency due to nutritional deficiency. Your child should also get vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements (regardless of blood results because of iron deficiency, and in such low hemoglobin, there must be folate and B12 deficiency accompanying.
Some allergic trends are also evident. That should be clinically assessed, investigated, and treated either with antihistamines or leukotriene inhibitors.
I hope this helps you.
Thank you.
Same symptoms don't mean you have the same problem. Consult a doctor now!
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