I made a mini research about thalassaemia.
God my next appointment wont be till end of next week! A longggggggg way to go.
I’m thinking that i probably have Thalassaemia Minor / Trait just because i had anaemia before and my readings are still off from the blood test results. However, since Zubair is totally clean, the chances of our children having thalassaemia MINOR is 50% as shown in this diagram.
This is considered good news even if im found to have this trait because Pple with a MINOR one usually live life as per normal and i can still have absolutely healthy children without a tainted gene.
But it makes me wonder, does that mean one of my parents have a Thalassaemia Minor too?? How about my grandparents?
But the issue remains, what exactly is Thalassaemia? Answer taken from KKHospital website
What Is Thalassaemia?
Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder which is caused by an abnormal gene. A person with thalassaemia is unable to produce normal, functioning haemoglobin in the blood.
Haemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. When the body is not able to produce normal, functioning haemoglobin, the affected person suffers from anaemia.
Thalassaemia is passed on from parent to child and can affect both males and females. In Singapore, about 3% of the population are carriers of the
thalassaemia gene.
Another from Geocities explains in more lament term:
To understand more about Thalassaemia you need to know a little about blood and
about anaemia.Blood is made up of a lot of red cells in a clear, slightly
yellow liquid called plasma. Red blood cell are produced constantly. Blood cells
are replaced very quickly. That’s why people can often give blood frequently.The red in a persons blood contains a substance called Haemoglobin. Haemoglobin
is very important because it carries oxygen from the lungs to where ever it is
needed in the body. It also contains a lot of iron, and when red blood cells are
broken down, most of the iron from the Haemoglobin is used again to make new
Haemoglobin. People lose some iron from their bodes when urine is passed, this
is compensated for when eating food which contains iron. The main reason why
people need iron in their food is to make Haemoglobin.
In the meantime, I shall wait patiently or impatiently for my next antenatal appointment.
