Auto Immune hymolyptic aneamia (AIHA)

[Mel52]

Jill I had an xray of my hip because it was hurting but nothing showed. I then had the scan for osteroporosis and ta da I have it more in my hips than my spine. I had horrible reactions to the drugs prescribed so I am going to try the nasal spray. I am very glad my hubby was only on the predisone for a short period of time.
I am trying to find any information regarding causes of the hemolytic anemia. I researched the pubmed.gov site for case studies to see if there is any link between artificial hips wearing out and the anemia. I didn't find anything but wish I could find a dr who was interested in collecting information for future tracking of cases. There doesn't appear to be any foundations for hemolytic anemia. darn...

[japlopper]

Mel,
I think mine started with an exposure to a new mattress. We got one of those foam type mattresses last May. It smelled funny, and it gave both my husband and I bad headaches, but we didn't think much of it - figured it would just air out, but about two weeks after sleeping on it, I got a fever, extreme joint pain, baaad headaches, my urine turned dark, and then I turned yellow all over. My liver functions were so bad, that my dr thought I had a block in the artery going into my liver. I had a liver ultrasound, and it was fine, but it was my liver being overwhelmed. My immune system was destroying my red blood cells so fast that my liver couldn't handle it.

So whether that was what it was or not, it was awfully coincidental. My dr says that extreme allergic reactions can throw your body out of whack, especially for those people who are sensitive to them. Now I try to steer clear of chemicals, including household cleaners.

I think you're on to something when you say your husband's implant might have provoked your husband's immune system.

Jill

[MissKris75]

Mel52 and Jill, your ideas about what brought on hemolytic anemia are very interesting. I think mine might be somehow related to my ulcerative colitis, since both are autoimmune diseases. I had my colon removed shortly after diagnosis of UC because the colitis got very bad very fast and no medicine could control it. With UC, a colectomy is considered curative, so it's like I don't have UC anymore, but the autoimmune tendency is still there. Guess my immune system got bored without a colon to attack, so it started going after my RBCs. Bad, immune system! Bad, bad bad! LOL

[joglynne]

Regarding the osteroporosis issue. When I first started taking prednisolone I was automatically prescribed 5mg of folic acid a day. 3 months into taking prednisolone my Consultant started me on once weekly 70mg of Fosamax (alendronate sodium) which is used for the prevention of osteoporosis.

It's not easiest of drugs to take as it must be taken at least one-half hour before the first food, beverage, or medication of the day with plain water and you can't lie down for at least 30 minutes. At his suggestion I also took supplemental calcium and vitamin D. Was on the pred for well over a year and have been in remission on no medication for over 2 years. Bone density test have come back as normal.

A lot of the web sites I found when I was researching AIHA were veterinary ones- -apparently we have more canine fellow sufferers than human

[woodmere]

Just to join in the debate about what might have caused this problem, I have been trying to see what could have triggered it with me. Unfortunately I have had nothing in my past that I can think of. I have been perfectly healthy until this occurred. With my job I travelled around the world and I wondered if it had been triggered by an insect bite in one of the tropical countries, but the doc said not possible. The only other thing I can think of is stress as my job demanded alot and the hours were all over the place which also meant being very tired sometimes.

My Doc says that my antibody type is anti-K which is usually from a blood transfusion, but I have never had a transfusion in my life either. She is stumped on this. Seemingly we are one in a million people with this disorder, obviously it doesn't excite a researcher enough to do some investigation on us.