People with thalassemia intermedia (not as severe as major, but not as mild as trait) may need blood transfusions sometimes, such as when they have an infection or an illness. Some people with thalassemia – usually with thalassemia major – need regular blood transfusions because their body makes such low amounts of hemoglobin.

This can be done through a blood transfusion, a safe, common procedure in which you receive blood through a small plastic tube inserted into one of your blood vessels. One way to treat anemia is to provide the body with more red blood cells to carry oxygen. The more severe the thalassemia, the less hemoglobin the body has, and the more severe the anemia may be. The type of treatment a person receives depends on how severe the thalassemia is.

When you are immunocompromised, it is easier for you to get infections and you sometimes need extra protection, like flu shots and other vaccines. Because of this, people with thalassemia are said to be “immunocompromised,” which means that some of the body’s defenses against infection aren’t working. Because it is working so hard on this job, it can’t work as hard to filter blood or monitor for and fight infections.

When you have thalassemia, the spleen can get very big as it tries to make blood cells. When it finds these infections, it can start the process of fighting them. Two of the major ones are filtering the blood and monitoring the blood for certain infections. It sits on the left side of your abdomen, just under your lower ribs. This causes your bones to expand, and may stretch your bones and make them thinner and more easily broken.Īnother place where blood is made is an organ called the spleen. Because your bone marrow may be working harder than normal, it might grow bigger. The main place where blood cells are made is the bone marrow, the dark spongy part in the middle of bones. Your body will try very hard to make more red blood cells. When you have anemia, you might feel tired or weak. Since your body has fewer red blood cells when you have thalassemia, you may have symptoms of a low blood count, or anemia.

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