The next month
Nia is 15
The next month
Nia is 15
Nia takes the iron overload medicine every day, but it makes her feel like throwing up. Her doctor says taking the medicine with a light, nonfat meal can help reduce the nausea.
Blood transfusions can make you have too much iron in your body.
If this happens, you will start chelation therapy.
- Chelation therapy is medicine that removes iron from your body.
- There are risks and side effects.
You can continue blood transfusions with iron overload.
Your doctor will talk to you about the best plan.
Sometimes, people switch from simple transfusions to exchange transfusions.
Iron overload is a common problem with simple transfusions.
- It means you have too much iron in your body.
- This is called iron overload.
- With exchange transfusions, it is not as common.
- It happens because red blood cells contain iron. Blood transfusions put more iron into your blood than normal. Sometimes, too much iron stays in your body.
- It can damage your heart, liver, pancreas, and other organs.
- If you have iron overload, you may need medicine that removes iron from the body. It is called chelation therapy.
There are different medicines for chelation therapy.
Deferoxamine (Desferal) is a medicine given as an injection (shot).
Side effects:
- The spot on the skin where the injection (shot) was given to you can have pain, swelling, burning, redness, irritation, or a hard lump.
- You can have blurry vision.
- You can feel dizzy.
- See more side effects.
Deferiprone (Ferriprox) is a medicine given as an oral tablet (pill).
Side effects:
- You can vomit (throw up).
- You can have stomach pain.
- You can have diarrhea (watery poop).
- See more side effects.