What's the lowest Hemoglobin level before transfusion??

[B-bunch]

How low can ones hemoglobin go before a transfusion is necessary?

[Emily_MHManager]

Hey everyone -

How about we all agree that if someone has a low HgB level, they should be discussing treatment options with their doctors? It seems that many factors should be taken into consideration for a transfusion, and discussing these with a doctor is the best plan.

Enough with the fighting. It's against the Terms of Use, and distracts from the incredible knowledge you all share.

Emily

[BoceprevirGal]

  Yes, I have a friend with ITP, and she does Procrit shots, but if her HGB dips below 8, she goes in and has the Transfusion. She has struggled with this disease for 15 yrs now,and it is very difficult.

[BoceprevirGal]

  I am still kind of in shock, form having my HGB at 8.8, for my EOT labs.
I will never forget trying to ride my bike with my level that low, my bicycle seat felt SO hard and uncomfortable, and I was too weak to ride even half a block!
It's been a year,and my stomach muscles are still lookin flabby.
   I just keep trying to pay impeccable attention to my nutrition. My new ingredient I am grinding up with my vitamix is sesame seeds. I made a cucumber, plain yogurt, sesame seed and flax-seed smoothie, to build myself up, and still feel like I'm recovering, 1 yr post Hemolytic Anemia.

[dontworry_behappy1]

How low can ones hemoglobin go before a transfusion is necessary?
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I believe this was the original question.  

We aren't doctors and analyzing ones type of anemia and then deciding on the correct course of treatment is a doctor's job.   Persons with unrelated anemia should contact their doctor.   8.0 is the normal hemoglobin before a transfusion is necessary.

[can-do-man]

I'm not sure there is a "normal", of course this info comes from Doctors and not this site....
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The fourth recommendation is that transfusion decisions should be influenced by symptoms as well as hemoglobin concentration, although again, this was a weak recommendation with low-quality evidence.

According to the panelists, other guidelines have proposed that transfusion is generally not indicated when the hemoglobin concentration is above 10 g/dL, but is indicated when it is less than 6 to 7 g/dL. "However, none of these guidelines recommended a specific transfusion trigger," they write.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/760919

[pooh55811]

"Correct me if I'm wrong.  I think you have to be at least a 5.0 to be alive.  Are you sure you got that number right?"
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My response was partially to your statement above. So, no, you do not have to have a hemoglobin of 5 to be alive. I cared for one patient who had a hemoglobin of 2. Two people in the above thread had hemoglobins of 1.6 and 2 respectively.

No one has said that low hemoglobins are not a concern. Of course they are. However, there are many different causes for anemia and there are many different types of anemia. Not all of them are treated with blood transfusions. You need to find out what type of anemia they have and then decide on the correct course of treatment.

Neither of the two most recent posters on this thread had anemia due to Hep C meds. Their anemia was from other causes, as was the anemia that the patient I cared for had.