My Boyfriend Was Recently Applying For A Job Where He

Posted on Mon, 3 Sep 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 3 Sep 2018 Answered on

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : My boyfriend was recently applying for a job where he had to have a physical..it was discovered that his blood test results came back with a lot wrong..went to doctor who read the results and stated that according to the readings he was anemic and should be having a blood transfusion. But that his physical appearance did not match the readings ..they took blood again and when those results came back they said they were worse than the first ones he was told to take an iron supplement and has been taking geritol..he has had to quit jobs because of pain ..he easily hurts his back and can't move around for months at a time now he did some work with someone the other day laying turf after which he started complaining of pain bruised feeling under his breast bone it hurts to the point that it's starting to be to the point of dibiltating pain ..is this because of the anemia..what should we do

Answered by Dr. Vaishalee Punj (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It seems Thalassemia

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to Ask A Doctor service.

I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Yes anemia can cause pains. It seems that he has sternal pain. It is seen in pernicious anemia, thalassemia, leukemia and some other conditions. Thalassemia is a genetic disorder and needs to be tested specifically. Pernicious anemia is due deficiency of folic acid and B12 and also needs specific testing. Otherwise severe anemia can affect heart and may cause its enlargement. So he also needs an ECG.

He also needs to be checked for nutritional deficiency of iron, calcium and vitamin D.

I will suggest that he gets a detailed evaluation for cause of anemia and take appropriate treatment. Meanwhile he can eat lots of pomegranate seeds to restore his hemoglobin at home. When cause of anemia is clear, then specific supplements will be started.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Dr Vaishalee

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar