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Iron problems?

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  • Iron problems?

    Hi everyone,
    I have yet ANOTHER question. I have had such terrible iron problems since the surgery. It all started when I did my autonomous donation a week and a half before surgery number 1.
    I went to the blood bank and they determined I should give a "double double" donation. So 2 units of double red blood cells. They calculated my blood volume with my weight from my chart and height, and hooked me up to the machine. About 2/3 of the way through we realized they used my weight from 5 months prior, which was about 30 lbs bigger than I was at the time of the donation...thus making them think I had a much greater blood volume. They then determined that at the correct height and weight I did not have enough blood to do it...but they finished it anyway. I also had a reaction to the anti-coagulant. They told me to eat milk products and take iron pills.

    The first surgery went fine, they used none of the two units I banked. Then for the second surgery they used both...but nothing else, though I was told I would need 6 to 8 units. The surgical team determined that I was "young enough" to recover with less of a blood volume. Three days later I could hardly hold my head up and my blood cell count was dropping like crazy. 2 more units were given (from the donor pool). Again, they determined that 4 units would be better...but I was young, so we'd try this. I went home.

    Now I keep having problems with "seeing stars", getting dizzy and headaches. They keep telling me to up my iron. And it helps for a while.
    Did anyone else go through this?? What did you do to make it better?
    25 years old
    double 70+ degree curves before surgery
    Anterior on 11/11/08
    Posterior on 12/2/08 with titanium rods
    nearly perfect correction
    fused t-10 to pelvis
    with a hemi-vertebral osteotomy at L4

    Broke right rod at L4-L5 on 06/26/09
    Broke left rod on 10/24/09
    Revision surgery on 11/5/09 with vitallium rods
    Broke both rods again

    Had posterior than anterior revisions on 03/11 at the Twin Cities Spine Center
    Declared "FUSED" on 12/6/11
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