DEAR DR. GOTT: I would like some information on anemia. After a blood test my doctor suggested I have B12 shots – five the first five days, then one a week for two weeks and finally one shot a month. I’m 69 years young.

DEAR READER: A person is diagnosed with anemia when he or she does not have sufficient healthy red blood cells to provide enough oxygen to the tissues of the body. The condition can be temporary or long-term and can range from mild to severe and can result from the body incorrectly destroying red blood cells, or because the body doesn’t make a sufficient quantity of them, or a bleed causes the loss faster than the body can replace them. Symptoms can be so mild they go unnoticed for an extended period of time; however, as the condition worsens, so do the signs of fatigue, shortness of breath, [Read more...]