What Causes Hemoglobin Count Of 8.1?

Posted on Sat, 21 Mar 2015

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

Sat, 21 Mar 2015 Answered on

Fri, 10 Apr 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : The last couple of labs that I have had my hemoglobin has been very low. My doctor said that it should be between 11-15. Mine is 8.1. I do not have heavy bleeding. They did not find any blood in my urine and we are in the process of testing to see if there is any blood in my stool. I have not seen any blood in my stool. I had a XXXXXXX gastric bypass about 2 years ago. could this be causing by body not to absorb vitamin and causing me to be anemic. They also found that my Vitamin D was very low as well. My doctor said that it should be about a 40 and mine was a 12.

what are some other causes of anemia?

Answered by Dr. Saumya Mittal (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
explained the situation

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
I am Dr Mittal.
I have read your query.
I think I would be able to help you.

First, I agree with your notion. This is probably a vitamin and iron deficiency. To test this, we will need to get a peripheral smear, vitamin B 12 and folate levels tested along with iron levels.

Testing blood in stools is important because If you are bleeding, the treatment changes completely.

Lastly, there are 3 cause of anemia-
1 . Abnormality in formation of the blood from the bone marrow.
2. Low production of the blood due to the deficiency of vitamins or iron.
3. Loss of blood in bleeding from various sites.

I have tried to make it as simple as possible. I hope that the information helps you. Please feel free to contact us for more information. Best of luck. Dr Mittal.

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