How to Diagnose Thalassemia

Thalassemi, an inherited blood disorder, exists when an insufficient amount of hemoglobin, the oxygen supplying component of red blood cells, is produced. When red blood cells don't develop properly and cannot carry enough oxygen to your cells you become anemic, a condition that makes you tired and weak. Serious cases of anemia may injure organs and result in death.

Instructions

• 1

  Recognize the signs and symptoms of thalassemia. These signs include weakness, fatigue, jaundice, dizziness, diminished appetite, weight loss, rapid heartbeat, yellowish skin or yellowed eye whites and shortness of breath while exercising. If these occur, notify you physician.

• 2

  Submit to blood tests to measure red blood cell levels, assess the shape and size of the red blood cells, calculate the hemoglobin levels and establish the amount of reticulocytes. Reticulcytes, immature red blood cells, exit the bone marrow early due to the marrow rapidly releasing new red cells to compensate for the anemia.

• 3

  See a genetic counselor to assess the possibility of passing this disorder onto a child.

• 4

  Decide if you want to have an amniocentesis between the fifteenth and twentieth weeks of pregnancy. The test can find many genetic conditions. However, there are risks associated with this test, including miscarriage.