2 Serious Health Conditions so which one has caused Anaemea?

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Apart from kidney failure and in centre dialysis 3 times a week I also have prostate cancer which has metastasised to my bones. Just recently  I have become anaemic (9.2). This time last year my HB was between 14 and 15 which is when I started Hormone therapy which slows down the the advance  of prostate cancer. I have been dialysing for about 5 years which no change to my HB but then whether by coincidence or not HB started dropping just as I began the hormone and after a year finally arrived at the level it is now.

My oncology doctor says it has not been caused by the treatment and the cancer spread is not yet aggressive enough to cause anaemia. My renal doc says it is the result of further kidney deterioration which it most possibly is. But after being on dialysis for five years and my GFR staying steady between about 5 or 6% I was hoping that my hb levels would never be affected as is the case with many PKD patients.

 For the first time I feel slightly short of breath and a lack of energy. Whether the anaemea has been caused by kidney failure, cancer treatment or the cancer itself is really no more than academic because for whatever reason I am now anaemic: but it does seem odd to me that the hb drop only started from the beginning of the cancer treatment. I have 3 questions for which I would be most grateful if someone could shed some light on

1.  Is there anyone on this forum who has the same 2 conditions as I have?

2. The treatment for anaemia in UK dialysis centres is RNSP which I believe is a derivative of EPO. Does RNSP  give you back some energy so that you feel as you would with normal HB levels.?

3. What are the side effects of the RNSP and the possible complications with long term use,

[billybags]

kEN I can not answer all your questions, only a few,. My husband has been doing APD for nearly 3 years, he is anemic. His HB has dropped to 8 and iron to 6. They have been trying to bring this up with epo for the last 6 months. Apparently it is a slow progress. They keep changing his epo by upping it every 2 months. He is now on 80m every 10 days and they are upping it to 100 every 2 weeks.  He like you is very breathless, extremely tired, he has to go to bed after lunch because even doing little things like washing pots knacks him up. I have had this out with the neph, who is wonderful and he says maybe he needs an iron transfusion, lets see how it goes. Apparently they do not like giving iron because of the toxins, I don't know. There is nothing I can give him to help. His appetite is not good and that does not help. So he is anemic and malnourished, the dietitian says he can eat any thing he wants but he does not fancy any thing. I hope you get it sorted out.

[Henry P Snicklesnorter]

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