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Anemia in men not commonly caused by low iron - Dr Snuffy Myers video


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In the USA, Dr Snuffy Myers says in today's video, it is not uncommon for some community doctors (GPs to us) to wrongly give tron to men on hormone therapy.

There are quite a number of causes of anemia, he says. In women, menstruation reduces the iron needed by the hemoglobin molecule to carry oxygen to the body. If this becomes a problem, iron supplementation works for these women.

Men on a western diet, he says, rarely lack iron.

The most common cause of anemia in men not on hormone therapy is bleeding.

For men on hormone therapy, the testosterone which stimulates the production of hemoglobin is reduced.

This causes some men to become pale, fatigued and wain looking - anemic.

The proper course for the doctor is to test for iron in the blood. If it is deficient (rare in men), only then should iron be given.

If iron is given without a test, and the cause of the anemia is the low testosterone, the extra iron can do great harm - heart damage, liver damage, stimulate the onset of diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

Watch the video yourself here:

http://askdrmyers.wo...a-iron-and-pca/

The Anemia entry in Wikipedia that Dr Myers refers to is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemia

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  • 6 years later...

Dad was fatigued and off his food the last 3 days so I last called the ambos last night to get a check out on my father's heart. Heart all fine and beating well, so opted not to take him into hospital, even after the ambos gave us the choice to get him checked out in hospital because of his heart history.

 

So took him to the GP today. GP checked him out and said he is probably anemic because of being deficient in vitamins and minerals due to this prostate cancer.

 

His Hemoglobin has been low but their was in increase from a blood test in February compared to his December blood test. PSA under 1. Explained to the GP that my Dad was getting better and had more energy and was eating well and had gained 8kg in 2 months.

 

Yet the GP prescribed him Ensure Powder and Ferrograd C after checking his computer. 

 

Comparing Sustagen and Ensure Powder and felt they were mostly comparable but Sustagen was better due to less Sodium and Potassium.

 

With Ferrograd C I am now skeptical about after watching the clip above. I am going to give him a multivitamin as the Ferrograd C is quite a big hit of Iron and I wary of it potentially damaging his heart further.

 

If he doesn't improve I will have to either get his Iron levels checked out or just take him to emergency to get him  a blood transfusion or two.

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