Dark Blood, Methemoglobinemia? (Post Covid) - Need Help

[Blue Water]

I have been having issues since getting covid back in March 2020. It caused my iron saturation in the blood to skyrocket (up to 72% at its worst), while my ferritin dropped about twenty points, settling eventually at somewhere between 30-34 ng/dl. So while I am not anywhere near iron toxic in tissues, I am definitely overloaded in the blood.

My doctors, seeing I had one variant for hemochromatosis, advised conservative blood-letting a couple times a year. I gave blood recently and there was a serious difference in color between my blood and others. I had noticed this on routine blood draws recently as well. My blood is like a black color. It's very disturbing to me. They murmured "probably because of the iron."

However, in googling the subject further I stumbled on a condition called "methenoglobinemia." In this condition, hemoglobin contains iron which is oxidized in the blood to a state that is unable to carry oxygen into the cells. If the body has too much of this form of hemoglobin, you basically have hypoxia symptoms. Blue skin, headaches, fatigue, nausea, coma, etc. I may have very slight symptoms of these but nothing severe. Chronic methemoglobinemia however can actually produce very little symptoms – I guess the body becomes accustomed to it somehow.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences like this or knows what could be causing it. This is all confusing to me. The cure is methylene blue or vitamin C, but methylene blue seems risky for G6pD deficient individuals (I don't know if I am G6PD deficient) so I would have to figure that out. Is it possible that it is caused by the iron or something else?

Thanks

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I have been having issues since getting covid back in March 2020. It caused my iron saturation in the blood to skyrocket (up to 72% at its worst), while my ferritin dropped about twenty points, settling eventually at somewhere between 30-34 ng/dl. So while I am not anywhere near iron toxic in tissues, I am definitely overloaded in the blood.

My doctors, seeing I had one variant for hemochromatosis, advised conservative blood-letting a couple times a year. I gave blood recently and there was a serious difference in color between my blood and others. I had noticed this on routine blood draws recently as well. My blood is like a black color. It's very disturbing to me. They murmured "probably because of the iron."

However, in googling the subject further I stumbled on a condition called "methenoglobinemia." In this condition, hemoglobin contains iron which is oxidized in the blood to a state that is unable to carry oxygen into the cells. If the body has too much of this form of hemoglobin, you basically have hypoxia symptoms. Blue skin, headaches, fatigue, nausea, coma, etc. I may have very slight symptoms of these but nothing severe. Chronic methemoglobinemia however can actually produce very little symptoms – I guess the body becomes accustomed to it somehow.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences like this or knows what could be causing it. This is all confusing to me. The cure is methylene blue or vitamin C, but methylene blue seems risky for G6pD deficient individuals (I don't know if I am G6PD deficient) so I would have to figure that out. Is it possible that it is caused by the iron or something else?

Thanks

I looked it up and found this....

"Oxygenated (arterial) blood is bright red, while dexoygenated (venous) blood is dark reddish-purple."

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I was looking up how to get more oxygen in the blood the other night and here is what I found....

5 Natural Ways to Improve Oxygen Levels - Hallmark Homecare

The feeling of being out of breath (dyspnea) is a sensation that is well known to those who suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Although it is common for those experiencing shortness of breath to use oxygen therapy (oxygen tanks) to cope, the downsides can include fatigue...

www.hallmarkhomecare.com

 

[yerrag]

I have been having issues since getting covid back in March 2020. It caused my iron saturation in the blood to skyrocket (up to 72% at its worst), while my ferritin dropped about twenty points, settling eventually at somewhere between 30-34 ng/dl. So while I am not anywhere near iron toxic in tissues, I am definitely overloaded in the blood.

My doctors, seeing I had one variant for hemochromatosis, advised conservative blood-letting a couple times a year. I gave blood recently and there was a serious difference in color between my blood and others. I had noticed this on routine blood draws recently as well. My blood is like a black color. It's very disturbing to me. They murmured "probably because of the iron."

However, in googling the subject further I stumbled on a condition called "methenoglobinemia." In this condition, hemoglobin contains iron which is oxidized in the blood to a state that is unable to carry oxygen into the cells. If the body has too much of this form of hemoglobin, you basically have hypoxia symptoms. Blue skin, headaches, fatigue, nausea, coma, etc. I may have very slight symptoms of these but nothing severe. Chronic methemoglobinemia however can actually produce very little symptoms – I guess the body becomes accustomed to it somehow.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences like this or knows what could be causing it. This is all confusing to me. The cure is methylene blue or vitamin C, but methylene blue seems risky for G6pD deficient individuals (I don't know if I am G6PD deficient) so I would have to figure that out. Is it possible that it is caused by the iron or something else?

Thanks

I'm no expert but when I got sick recently, I noticed that my blood was darker than usual when it was being drawn. I can notice this because I get my blood drawn weekly and I thought in passing it was odd. Then later, as I got home, I notice there was a bruise on the spot where blood was drawn, which was the only time I've seen it happen.

The CBC result from the blood drawing came, and I saw that my rbc and hemoglobin had dropped a lot. My ESR also jumped from 7 to 30. I didn't test my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin though, but I would imagine my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin would have gone up as well. I looked at my symptoms, which included fever, and figured I must have a parasitic infection similar to malaria. But since it's dry season and there were few mosquitoes, I figure it must be something internal and not caused by an infection. It was an internal parasitic infection as a marker for parasite disease was also high. My eosinophils went from below 3% (the cutoff) to 15%.

I suspect my red blood cells were being destroyed by the parasite, and the parasite would be fungal in origin. For the next 3 weeks, I took anti-parasitics and I got better, and quickly my CBC went back to normal. This would confirm that my suspicion was right. Looking back, my urine turned light yellow from being reddish yellow. I thought there may be some blood in my urine, thought slight.

I have posted in other threads that I suspect a lot of COVID cases are actually parasite cases. When we are really sick, it's easy to look at the symptoms that are common to really sick people and say they are COVID. But this is a fringe idea, so while I feel strongly about it, it is certainly a hypothesis though it is not unfounded to develop this idea.

Check your CBC to see if what I'm seeing in my CBC is also what you're seeing in yours.

You may not have an existing hemachromatosis but developed one from your sickness because of your rbc being hemolysed releasing a lot of iron. The iron would easily result in high serum iron and high transferrin saturation and high ferritin, for that is what your body will do to protect you from microbes that thrive on iron, by keeping it away from them.

 

[yerrag]

I also think that if you had lost blood already you will still need those iron to restore your red blood cells back.

 

[lvysaur]

"methenoglobinemia." In this condition, hemoglobin contains iron which is oxidized in the blood to a state that is unable to carry oxygen into the cells. If the body has too much of this form of hemoglobin, you basically have hypoxia symptoms. Blue skin, headaches, fatigue, nausea, coma, etc

Interesting. After covid, I also experienced a distinct phase with slight "blueing" of the skin. My urine was also very clear during these spells, and my heartrate was uncomfortably high (90-110 bpm resting). My oxygen would be consistently 99% though. I had zero appetite and felt very sick during these phases.

On the other hand, there's a separate type of phase where I DID have oxygen drops, and I would always have pink skin and otherwise feel healthy. These oxygen drops always resolved after 1 minute or less, usually drops to 85% spo2.

It almost feels like, there is a phase where my body can "tolerate" low oxygen, so I have pink skin and high nitric oxide (my **** is also bigger). And in the other phase, my body cannot tolerate low oxygen, so my heart beats fast to compensate for it, and I have blue skin. What's causing the blue/pink skin differential is a mystery to me.

My doctors, seeing I had one variant for hemochromatosis

Do you know your ethnicity breakdown by any chance? NW Europeans are high in it but I think Irish are particularly high

Also, the wiki entry on methemoglobemia seems to implicate Celtic people. "Blue" people from Ireland and Kentucky (the US south has a scot-irish background)

Methemoglobinemia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I'm no expert but when I got sick recently, I noticed that my blood was darker than usual when it was being drawn. I can notice this because I get my blood drawn weekly and I thought in passing it was odd. Then later, as I got home, I notice there was a bruise on the spot where blood was drawn, which was the only time I've seen it happen.

The CBC result from the blood drawing came, and I saw that my rbc and hemoglobin had dropped a lot. My ESR also jumped from 7 to 30. I didn't test my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin though, but I would imagine my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin would have gone up as well. I looked at my symptoms, which included fever, and figured I must have a parasitic infection similar to malaria. But since it's dry season and there were few mosquitoes, I figure it must be something internal and not caused by an infection. It was an internal parasitic infection as a marker for parasite disease was also high. My eosinophils went from below 3% (the cutoff) to 15%.

I suspect my red blood cells were being destroyed by the parasite, and the parasite would be fungal in origin. For the next 3 weeks, I took anti-parasitics and I got better, and quickly my CBC went back to normal. This would confirm that my suspicion was right. Looking back, my urine turned light yellow from being reddish yellow. I thought there may be some blood in my urine, thought slight.

I have posted in other threads that I suspect a lot of COVID cases are actually parasite cases. When we are really sick, it's easy to look at the symptoms that are common to really sick people and say they are COVID. But this is a fringe idea, so while I feel strongly about it, it is certainly a hypothesis though it is not unfounded to develop this idea.

Check your CBC to see if what I'm seeing in my CBC is also what you're seeing in yours.

You may not have an existing hemachromatosis but developed one from your sickness because of your rbc being hemolysed releasing a lot of iron. The iron would easily result in high serum iron and high transferrin saturation and high ferritin, for that is what your body will do to protect you from microbes that thrive on iron, by keeping it away from them.

Where would you suspect so many parasites would be coming from to cause such a pandemic and give headaches and respiratory issues? Have you suspected a particular parasite?

 

[Jam]

Methylene blue is commonly used to treat methemoglobinemia.

 

[lvysaur]

https://i0.wp.com/emcrit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/methwoman.png

It seems it's associated with low spO2.

 

[yerrag]

https://i0.wp.com/emcrit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/methwoman.png

It seems it's associated with low spO2.

Dramatic change. Although I wish they didn't have to change the lighting from blueish lighting to yellowish lighting to dramatize the change. But I guess it's to compensate for what photos not doing justice to the actual.

 

[yerrag]

Where would you suspect so many parasites would be coming from to cause such a pandemic and give headaches and respiratory issues? Have you suspected a particular parasite?

From a pleomorphic perspective (consistent and complementary with the terrain theory ideas of Bechamp, Enderlein, Gaessens), the same microbial building block can morph into forms ranging from being beneficial symbiotic to our body (health-promoting) to parasitic (destructive). What form these microbes takes is dependent on the state of balance and health of our body.

Being optimal in our acid-state balance encourages the growth of beneficial microbes. The smaller forms are beneficial, and the larger forms are parasitic. In a very toxic environment, fungal forms grow, and these forms become more parasitic the worse the environment is. It creates a vicious cycle accelerating the disintegration of our body.

This situation is devoid of external involvement. No need for an infection (by this I mean an external microbial stimulus) to occur.

Often people are attached to the idea of parasites as worms and confined to the gut. My use of the term is broader.

 

[Blue Water]

Interesting. After covid, I also experienced a distinct phase with slight "blueing" of the skin. My urine was also very clear during these spells, and my heartrate was uncomfortably high (90-110 bpm resting). My oxygen would be consistently 99% though. I had zero appetite and felt very sick during these phases.

On the other hand, there's a separate type of phase where I DID have oxygen drops, and I would always have pink skin and otherwise feel healthy. These oxygen drops always resolved after 1 minute or less, usually drops to 85% spo2.

It almost feels like, there is a phase where my body can "tolerate" low oxygen, so I have pink skin and high nitric oxide (my **** is also bigger). And in the other phase, my body cannot tolerate low oxygen, so my heart beats fast to compensate for it, and I have blue skin. What's causing the blue/pink skin differential is a mystery to me.


Do you know your ethnicity breakdown by any chance? NW Europeans are high in it but I think Irish are particularly high

Also, the wiki entry on methemoglobemia seems to implicate Celtic people. "Blue" people from Ireland and Kentucky (the US south has a scot-irish background)

Methemoglobinemia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have a mix, and there is definitely some ancestry from the area. I am 29 years old, however, and have not had this condition before, so it must have been triggered by covid. I don't even know for certain if it is transient or what.

I don't think it was a dark "chocolate color" it was just very dark blue compared to the other red sample – it is possible it was simply less oxygenated than other samples of blood but not full on condition. I should definitely grab a pulse oximeter at some point and check my O2 levels. I am a bit hesitant to take methylene blue but am trying to increase ascorbic acid.

@yerrag That's an interesting hypothesis about hemolysis and quite possible.

 

[yerrag]

@yerrag That's an interesting hypothesis about hemolysis and quite possible.

If you haven't, check out Walter Last's article here:

Thread 'Pleomorphism and Terrain Theory Resource Thread' Pleomorphism and Terrain Theory Resource Thread

 

[Blue Water]

I looked it up and found this....

"Oxygenated (arterial) blood is bright red, while dexoygenated (venous) blood is dark reddish-purple."

Exactly, the strange thing was the other samples were a much more normal color and were taken from venous samples just like my own. Like a dark reddish burgundy color. Mine was a dark purple, almost black in color. I would not say it was "brown" or chocolate colored, as those pics on wikipedia suggest.

 

[Blue Water]

If you haven't, check out Walter Last's article here:

Thread 'Pleomorphism and Terrain Theory Resource Thread' Pleomorphism and Terrain Theory Resource Thread

Thanks. Will have to look at this, and I want to get into terrain theory more but I know it will take some dedicated focus.

 

[Atonewithme]

I'm no expert but when I got sick recently, I noticed that my blood was darker than usual when it was being drawn. I can notice this because I get my blood drawn weekly and I thought in passing it was odd. Then later, as I got home, I notice there was a bruise on the spot where blood was drawn, which was the only time I've seen it happen.

The CBC result from the blood drawing came, and I saw that my rbc and hemoglobin had dropped a lot. My ESR also jumped from 7 to 30. I didn't test my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin though, but I would imagine my serum iron and TIBC and ferritin would have gone up as well. I looked at my symptoms, which included fever, and figured I must have a parasitic infection similar to malaria. But since it's dry season and there were few mosquitoes, I figure it must be something internal and not caused by an infection. It was an internal parasitic infection as a marker for parasite disease was also high. My eosinophils went from below 3% (the cutoff) to 15%.

I suspect my red blood cells were being destroyed by the parasite, and the parasite would be fungal in origin. For the next 3 weeks, I took anti-parasitics and I got better, and quickly my CBC went back to normal. This would confirm that my suspicion was right. Looking back, my urine turned light yellow from being reddish yellow. I thought there may be some blood in my urine, thought slight.

I have posted in other threads that I suspect a lot of COVID cases are actually parasite cases. When we are really sick, it's easy to look at the symptoms that are common to really sick people and say they are COVID. But this is a fringe idea, so while I feel strongly about it, it is certainly a hypothesis though it is not unfounded to develop this idea.

Check your CBC to see if what I'm seeing in my CBC is also what you're seeing in yours.

You may not have an existing hemachromatosis but developed one from your sickness because of your rbc being hemolysed releasing a lot of iron. The iron would easily result in high serum iron and high transferrin saturation and high ferritin, for that is what your body will do to protect you from microbes that thrive on iron, by keeping it away from them.

I had high Ferritin for me, dark blood, low oxygen, and high inflammation. Most of my labs were crap last year, and the year before. Had Covid Mar 2020 and had intimate exposure to vax. After prolonged parasite treatment, my labs are awesome and my blood is bright red. My oxygen varies still but is usually mid to high 90s. I started on an antihistamine which keeps it in check, although I hate taking it. Some antiparasitics can act as antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and antiinflammatory. Some used in combination can increase the effects. In my case, there is debate on the mechanisms of action because there is uncertainty why I took a turn for the worse after exposure to the vaccine since there is zero research on it. I am just glad I have a doctor who didn't think I was crazy. Of course, he could see the extreme weight loss, high bp, hr, low Sp02, and crap labs following my timeline.

 

[yerrag]

I had high Ferritin for me, dark blood, low oxygen, and high inflammation. Most of my labs were crap last year, and the year before. Had Covid Mar 2020 and had intimate exposure to vax. After prolonged parasite treatment, my labs are awesome and my blood is bright red. My oxygen varies still but is usually mid to high 90s. I started on an antihistamine which keeps it in check, although I hate taking it. Some antiparasitics can act as antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and antiinflammatory. Some used in combination can increase the effects. In my case, there is debate on the mechanisms of action because there is uncertainty why I took a turn for the worse after exposure to the vaccine since there is zero research on it. I am just glad I have a doctor who didn't think I was crazy. Of course, he could see the extreme weight loss, high bp, hr, low Sp02, and crap labs following my timeline.

If you got I to the practice of peeing into a cup to observe your urine, you may also share the same observations I had.

My urine wasn't voluminous when I was sick. It appeared to have reddish hue as well. It seemed during a state of infection, urine production is downregulated, perhas due to metabolic downregulation.

Lately, being recovered, and getting better, my urine volume is back. And my urine is a light golden yellow - the best coloration it's ever been.

I suspect it was the blood being hemolyzed by parasites that caused the redness in urine.

I've been taking 3 X 500mg of artemisia annua for a week now. It seems to be doing some cleanup of lingering parasites in my blood.

Microbes in blood, I have come to believe, always exist. They are harmless when the body is in balance, and would develop into fungal parasites when the balance is disturbed.

 

[Blue Water]

If you got I to the practice of peeing into a cup to observe your urine, you may also share the same observations I had.

My urine wasn't voluminous when I was sick. It appeared to have reddish hue as well. It seemed during a state of infection, urine production is downregulated, perhas due to metabolic downregulation.

Lately, being recovered, and getting better, my urine volume is back. And my urine is a light golden yellow - the best coloration it's ever been.

I suspect it was the blood being hemolyzed by parasites that caused the redness in urine.

I've been taking 3 X 500mg of artemisia annua for a week now. It seems to be doing some cleanup of lingering parasites in my blood.

Microbes in blood, I have come to believe, always exist. They are harmless when the body is in balance, and would develop into fungal parasites when the balance is disturbed.

I've had this reddish pink tint as well to urine. But no clue about parasites.

 

[yerrag]

I've had this reddish pink tint as well to urine. But no clue about parasites.

I'm not sure if every reddish tint could be accounted for my parasites causing hemolysis of RBCs, but I've always thought of that reddish tint as simply being very concentrated urine.

But it's only after encountering being sick from internal fungal parasites destroying RBCs that I suspect a connection.

It's also the first time I ever saw my urine being so bright yellow and clear ever, from taking 3 x 500mg of artemisia annual. It couldn't be a coincidence. Its the best looking urine I've ever seen of myself.

It may mean nothing but its good to take note. Add up the many seemingly inconsequential observations and a pattern may emerge. These observations may be more than anecdotal if corroborated by others. This is a feature of forums of very observant members that don't do the throw the sink at the problem which robs us of meaningful tidbits of information.

 

[atlee7757]

This thread is very important.

How did it get derailed like this?

Methemoglobinemia:​

The illness itself and the COVID symptoms that some people have that are very similar to Methemoglobinemia.

No need to look for parasites. Just take a look at what your Doctor is doing.

Methemoglobinemia is caused by any powerful Oxidant: Hemolglobin is Oxidized into Methhemoglobin which can't traffic oxygen.

Many medications that people who are going thru post-covid problems use are powerful Oxidants.

Hydroxychloroquine and acetaminophen (Tyle...) are two powerful Oxidants. Lidocaine, Benzocaine and all the rest of the ...caines are as well.

I have a question for anyone who has knowledge in this area.

Do the Methylated B Vitamins act as Oxidants on the Iron (Fe2 to Fe3) state of Hemeglobin?