{"id":30693,"date":"2025-06-28T15:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=30693"},"modified":"2025-06-28T15:31:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:31:38","slug":"maybe-its-not-just-aging-maybe-its-anemia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=30693","title":{"rendered":"Maybe It\u2019s Not Just Aging. Maybe It\u2019s Anemia."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Significant numbers of older people have the condition. Many find relief with an effective treatment that is being more widely prescribed.<\/p>\n

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Gary Sergott felt weary all the time. \u201cI\u2019d get tired, short of breath, a sort of malaise,\u201d he said. He was cold even on warm days and looked pale with dark circles under his eyes.<\/p>\n

His malady was not mysterious. As a retired nurse-anesthetist, Mr. Sergott knew he had anemia, a deficiency of red blood cells. In his case, it was the consequence of a hereditary condition that caused almost daily nosebleeds and depleted his hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen throughout the body.<\/p>\n

But in consulting doctors about his fatigue, he found that many didn\u2019t know how to help. They advised Mr. Sergott, who lives in Westminster, Md., to take iron tablets, usually the first-line treatment for anemia.<\/p>\n

But like many older people, he found a daily regimen of four to six tablets hard to tolerate. Some patients taking iron complain of severe constipation or stomach cramps. Mr. Sergott felt \u201cnauseated all the time.\u201d And iron tablets don\u2019t always work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After almost 15 years, he found a solution. Dr. Michael Auerbach, a hematologist and an oncologist who is the co-director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Baltimore, suggested that Mr. Sergott receive iron intravenously instead of orally.<\/p>\n

Now Mr. Sergott, 78, gets an hourlong infusion when his hemoglobin levels and other markers show that he needs one, usually three times a year. \u201cIt\u2019s like filling the gas tank,\u201d he said. His symptoms recede, and \u201cI feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Significant numbers of older people have the condition. Many find relief with an effective treatment that is being more widely prescribed.Gary Sergott felt weary all the time. \u201cI\u2019d get tired, short of breath, a sort of malaise,\u201d he said. He was cold even on warm days and looked pale with dark circles under his eyes.His malady was not mysterious. As a retired nurse-anesthetist, Mr. Sergott knew he had anemia, a deficiency of red blood cells. In his case, it was the consequence of a hereditary condition that caused almost daily nosebleeds and depleted his hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen throughout the body.But in consulting doctors about his fatigue, he found that many didn\u2019t know how to help. They advised Mr. Sergott, who lives in Westminster, Md., to take iron tablets, usually the first-line treatment for anemia.But like many older people, he found a daily regimen of four to six tablets hard to tolerate. Some patients taking iron complain of severe constipation or stomach cramps. Mr. Sergott felt \u201cnauseated all the time.\u201d And iron tablets don\u2019t always work.After almost 15 years, he found a solution. Dr. Michael Auerbach, a hematologist and an oncologist who is the co-director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Baltimore, suggested that Mr. Sergott receive iron intravenously instead of orally.Now Mr. Sergott, 78, gets an hourlong infusion when his hemoglobin levels and other markers show that he needs one, usually three times a year. \u201cIt\u2019s like filling the gas tank,\u201d he said. His symptoms recede, and \u201cI feel great.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30695,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30693"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30696,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30693\/revisions\/30696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}