இ Random facts IV ~ The Good The Bad & The Bloody 血

Click to learn Chinese word xue.

Mind my language for using the last word 'bloody' in the title as this entry is practically very bloody oops sorry said bloody again. During my schooling days we were forbidden to utter 'bloody fool' which is considered just as bad as the four letter word but when coming of age we hear or see this word so rampantly used almost everyday.

How nice to inherit millions from our parents and have a whale of a time like the standard fairy tale ending phrase, "lived happily ever after"? Wake me I'm dreaming!!! So far Bananaz has not inherited any goodies yet only CVD or color blindness and now what, more bad news? An incurable HbH disease. Ohhh how dreadful when you read this *let me put it in bold* INCURABLE disease? What runs through your mind? As we all know the speed of light travels faster than sound and the expert NLP practitioners talked about the MIND travel even much faster.

Well let's tap into the hidden powers of your mind to see what disease gets connected with 'H'? Definitely neither 'Hyper Tension' nor 'Hepatitis' disease? Oh dear why so black heart to allow 'HIV' to cross your mind haha. Okie dokie high time to spill the beans, so what is actually HbH Disease? HbH stands for Haemoglobin or Hemoglobin H Disease which is part of the Alpha Thalassemia Syndrome.

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia 地中海形貧血 *dì zhōng hǎi xíng pín xuè* (Mediterranean anemia in Chinese) is a genetic blood disorder. People with Thalassemia disease are not able to make enough hemoglobin that are found in red blood cells which carries oxygen to all parts of the body. The disorder results in excessive destruction and mutation of red blood cells thus causes severe anemia.

Thalassemia is a genetic disease. This means that a person can only get Thalassemia disease or trait by inheriting the genes for Thalassemia from their parents. Genes determine what we look like, such as hair color, and are also responsible for many diseases. Inheritance of Thalassemia happens purely by chance–there is nothing that parents do, or do not do, that will cause their child to inherit Thalassemia. Thalassemia is never 'caught' by another person in the way that a cold or flu is transmitted. People with Thalassemia disease and trait are born with it. (Source: www.thalassemia.com )

There are two primary types of Thalassemia disease: Alpha Thalassemia disease and Beta Thalassemia disease. There are two main types of Alpha Thalassemia disease. Alpha Thalassemia Major is a very serious disease in which severe anemia begins even before birth and survival past the first few hours of life is rare. Pregnant women carrying affected fetuses are themselves at risk for serious pregnancy and delivery complications. Another type of Alpha Thalassemia is Hemoglobin H disease which Bananaz inherited and considered very unfortunate but then lucky 不辛中之大辛 *bù xīn zhòng zhī dà xīn* to have inherited HbH and not Alpha Thalassemia Major or Beta Thalassemia disease else I am afraid there will not be any Bananaz typing here but long dead and gone. (Source : www.thalassemia.com)

With my hemoglobin (Hb) reading then at 116 g/L (average for male is 130-180 g/L) it will drop as years go by and currently at 109 g/L, my doctor's advice is to stay away from high grounds because of my HbH disease as the supply of oxygen will be thinner and Bananaz would have a huge problem grasping for breath. Did I follow instructions obediently? Nope! What an awesome feeling watching sunrise on top of Mt Kinabalu. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” ~ Walter Bagehot. Nothing to worry about Alpha Thalassemia minor with no treatment required and Bananaz will be just as normal like everybody else except pale and sallow.

Alpha thalassemias occur most commonly in persons from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent. Beta thalassemias occur in persons of Mediterranean origin, and to a lesser extent, Chinese, other Asians, and African Americans.

Is my daughter lucky enough to be in the 25% as illustrated in the chart above to escape inheriting the HbH disease? Stay tuned for Part 2..

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