Hi xxx,
Something that you may need to assess is the medications which your mother may be taking. Many times, patients are on various medicines which require dosage adjustments after they begin phlebbing & especially as they are deironed. I have seen cases, especially with blood pressure medicines, where a patient doesn't need it at all after being deironed. If they
continue on their meds without adjusting dosages as they are deironed, they could run into some problems. One patient kept passing out & the dr. couldn't figure out why. Well, it ended up that he was on a medicine for his bp & for tachycardia [rapid pulse] & they didn't adjust the dosage as he was deironed, which was causing a low pulse rate & a low bp, which caused
him to faint. He now is deironed & takes none of the medicines that he required prior to diagnosis.
Although medicine adjustment is something that everyone needs to consider as they phleb., it is also important to have a very thorough physical done before phlebbing & as needed, to evaluate all organ/system functions so that you can be aware of any potential problems while phlebbing. If there has been organ damage from excess iron, it may be necessary to adjust the
phlebs. so there is less stress on the heart/pancreas/etc. by decreasing the frequency of phlebs. or amount of blood removed.
Just some thoughts!
Blessings,
Cindy
p.s. On my webpage, I do have quite a few references to cardiac related articles. Just click on HEART in the yellow table of symptoms.
Cindy Munn RN
http://www.munnfamily.net
Secretary, American Hemochromatosis Society
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