Sudden 'chills'

1-12-08 a family member woke up saying he didn't feel well. He was tired and said he had 'the chills'

That is one of the symptoms of Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia or IMHA

and there was a strong episode of violent diarrhea the night before.

I keep asking him what he was doing about the time the diarrhea showed up, but he can't think of anything.

AIHA Fatigue clues:

Chills
Fatigue
Pale color
Shortness of breath
Rapid heart rate
Yellow skin color (jaundice)
Dark urine
Enlarged spleen
Eyes burning & hurting

Red blood cells immature? etc
Blood in Urine?

I think this is the fatigue doctors are looking for in Chronic Fatigue Syndromes ... so I'm going to watch for other symptoms ...

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Re: having FATIGUE & 'the chills'

1-16
 
Twilight,
Has he had trouble with hemoglobin before? I have AIHA, and when it's at it's worst, I do have diarrhea, and chills can be part of it too, because I also run a low grade fever when I'm hemolyzing - although a low grade fever isn't always present with AIHA, I know personally it's a symptom for me.

He needs to have a CBC done and a retic count done. Those counts will help the dr. in determining what's going on. Is he seeing a hematologist or a GP?


Jill
japlopper
Senior Member

 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Carmel IN
Posts: 264
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Re: having FATIGUE & 'the chills'

1-20
I'm no expert, but those symptoms could also mean hepatitis or other liver issues. I'd be asking for a liver function test.
 
MissPoss Junior Member

 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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Tests can look 'normal' & have 2 things wrong    Thanks for your thoughts.

He seldom will go to the doctor, but I'm hoping he will if this persists.

Something of interest I just thought about. For the other symptoms of Chronic Fatigue that often goes with this anemia, they say it isn't easy to find. Tests keep coming back normal. Many times you hear this on Mystery Diagnosis TV program/s

If someone only has one thing wrong (& a parent didn't have CFIDS type symptoms)

Then - a test on something will go UP for one ailment

and then DOWN for the other ailment

... Two things wrong, but tests look normal

They say random distribution of weight RDW is a sign of hemolytic anemia when it is elevated (& other things) ... but it is lower when there is rheumatoid arthritis ... So a person who had both ailments wouldn't look like there was a problem with either, per this test at least

Another fatigue sign that I found very interesting is that a very elevated white blood cell count may be a fatigue sign. Sometimes it indicates an infection; sometimes it is indicative of lymphoma ... but that it would be a fatigue sign blew me away! (Red blood cells in Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia are made in the bone marrow as are the white blood cells. Although the info I read said that it had nothing to do with the AIHA per se, the production of WBCs were stimulated as they are made in the bone marrow also.