Could i have leukemia?? Please Answer!!?

ok so here it is!!! I am anemic and i have had many tests to try to find out why!! Well they said that i have an iron deficiency and it is pretty severe!! So my doctor checked my stool twice and both time's it showed that i had blood i nmy stool so she sent me for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy which came back completly normal... still no answer to why i am loosing iron!! I am always tired and dizzy, short of breath and not to mention how many times that i have been sick the past few months!! I have missed alot of school!! My blood work does not show levated white counts but all of my other numbers are very low including my hemoglobin!! I am 17 years old and i am a female and no i don't have heavy periods!! I have been talking to one of my friends who has had leukemia in the past and she said that these are some of her same symptoms! Is it possible that i may have leukemia of some sort!!

WHat type of tests will tell if i do hae leukemia?
WHat should i do to find out
Thank you

oh and i have been taking iron pills for almost a year and no improvement so far!!!!!!

You would need a bone marrow biopsy to see if you have leukemia.
Anemic means your hemaglobin is low. The anemia causes you to be tired and dizzy and short of breath all on its own. Hemoglobin is what carries the oxygen through the body. It is a red blood cell, and it needs iron to do this. This is why you are anemic when you have an iron deffeincy. Having a lack of oxygen causes you to be tired, dizzy bc the brain and heart arent getting enough oxygen. It causes the shortness of breath because your heart and lungs arent getting enough oxygen. You didnt mention, but the anemia will also cause moderate to severe bruising.

What other counts were messed up, and at what levels? I have been anemic all my life. Fairly low. I was infact diagnosed with leukemia at 21, but it wasnt bc I was anemic. (Im fairly positive my leukemia was caused by cig smoke, so I really dont believe one has to do with the other)

This could be leukemia, anemia is a symptom. However, anemia by itself wouldnt necessarily mean that You may just simply have a severe iron deffiency. I have had to or needed to take iron vitamins since I was like 8.

Reprising and extending my response to the same question from yesterday - Your Dr knows what tests you need to look for potential leukemia and if he sent you for a colonoscopy and endoscopy already then you can be sure he has also done the proper tests that would tell him whether or not to suspect leukemia. If he really thought you might have leukemia he would have already sent you to an oncologist. You apparently do not have night sweats and do not complain about fevers or losing weight. The answer remains that it is much more likely that your problem is related to simple anemia - or at least that is my guess. Anemia in young women is epidemic due to the crappy American fast food diet and affects over 3 million women.

Many people do not properly absorb iron pills. That is why I suggested that you add some daily black strap molasses to your diet. Try using a variety of high iron content food sources of iron to increase your iron levels instead of depending on iron tablets. Start eating liver once a week and take a vitamin C daily so as to increase your iron absorption from your diet. Here are some links for you to read that might help.

http://www.parkhurstexchange.com/qa/A.ph...

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/...

http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/iron.ht...

http://www.cfpc.ca/English/cfpc/programs...

Hello,
sorry to here about your problems. bone marrow is the final way they check for leukemia. However, there are things they look for in a CBC that lead them to believe its cancer and further blood tests can show blast cells. When my son was diagnosed he had the blast cells in his peripheral systems (blood). If you are really concerned that it is leukemia talk to your regular doc and see if he recommends further blood tests, or consulting an oncologists. He may actually recommend a hematologist since you have been so anemic. Also your white count does not have to be elevated for it to be leukemia. In fact my sons was non-existent. Hope everything will turn out all right for you, try not to worry to much until you know for sure. I will pray it does.

Well first off, if you've been taking iron, that can cause a false positive result on stool testing kits, so if you have had both an endoscopy and a colonoscopy and they didn't find anything, I'd assume that maybe the iron pills are causing a false-positive result on those tests if you were taking the iron pills before you took the tests. However, you may want to consider having a barium follow-through to see if maybe there's a bleed affecting just your small intestine. You may also want to consider an upper GI series to see if there's a bleed in you upper digestive system.
Second, iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of anemia, and is not related to leukemia. The symptoms you feel are all symptoms of your iron anemia. Most people with leukemia also have an elevated white blood cell count.
I would not worry about leukemia at this point, but if you're worried about it you can talk to your doctor. In the meantime, the doctors need to do some more tests to see if there is in fact a bleed coming from your gastrointestinal tract (a common cause of anemia), or if there's a bleed elsewhere in your body that can be corrected.