Question: I am a 72-year-old woman and was recently told I was anemic. I was given three pints of blood but my doctors won’t tell me why. I now have a 4-centimeter aneurysm above my heart and a 3-centimeter aneurysm along my stomach. I am told I am "bleeding" but no one can find where. Medical doctors scare me to death, so can you recommend a nutritionist or someone else to help me?

Dr. Hibberd's Answer:

You need to have your anemia and source of bleeding evaluated aggressively and corrected, so ask for a gastroenterology and hematology consultation. Your aneurisms are hopefully stable.

At 72 years of age, you will need to discuss your aneurism situation with a thoracic or cardiovascular surgeon. You may need to stabilize these, or at the very least be under rigorous blood pressure control. Avoid pushing your consultants if they advise delaying correcting your aneurisms. If your aneurisms are felt to be stable and your blood pressure controlled, you will need to concentrate on your strength returning. Your nutritionist can help you later. First, let’s make sure you survive!