Low haemoglobin? Why and does this sound correct?

[BGTs]

My mum has been admitted to hospital due to low haemoglobin after going to A&E because she felt unwell and dizzy (I know, it’s really a GP issue).

She is saying this is due to internal bleeding but she hasn’t had a scan or anything. She has had an ulcer before now but the last follow up endoscopy said it was healed.

I’ve been to see her and she seems just fine, not on a ward yet so I couldn’t stay for long. Her blood pressure is a little low as far as I can tell from her notes.

I will be speaking to a doctor on Monday as I’m not really getting much info from her but how can they say it’s Internal bleeding when she hasn’t had a scan? She’s saying they’ll do another endoscopy in the week.

What could be going on here? Surely they wouldn’t keep her in unnecessarily but low haemoglobin is iron deficiency - can’t she just be treated for that? I’m not sure she’s keeping something from me. Does this sound right?

She might need a blood transfusion. How low is her haemoglobin?
There has to be a cause of it and often it's due to bleeding somewhere in the GI tract, the scan would be to find out exactly where

If it's low enough that they're keeping her in hospital, then no it's not a GP issue, btw

Not a GP issue if it’s low enough to cause dizziness and low blood pressure. She was absolutely right to go to A&E.

Internal bleeding usually presents as black, tarry stools or vomit that looks like coffee grounds. If she’s had either of those along with low Hb, that’s a pretty good indicator of a GI bleed.

They can’t ‘just treat her for low Hb’ without finding out the cause of her anaemia. That could be anything from an iron infusion, blood transfusion, high dose IV PPI, myriad other things. Probably best to just let her medical team decide her treatment plan…

It’s good that your mum is getting the investigations she needs. Though a hospital stay is never going to be fun. Low haemaglobin can be caused by lots of things other than iron deficiency. Hopefully there will be more information once she’s seen the doctor. Miserable to have to wait til Monday. Fingers crossed her stay is short and any issues are quickly found are easily sorted.

And take her in a long phone charger, power pack and headphones tomo 😁