I had my spleen removed about 5 months ago due to splenomegaly.
It weighed over 10 lbs and was slightly larger than a football upon excision, so aside from having exceptionally large incisions with an increased healing period - how does this affect a persons quality of life - long term?
Are there health enhancement tricks for people without spleens? I didn’t have insurance at the time of the emergency surgery, and now It’s literally impossible to get medical coverage or the knowledge on my condition that a regular Doctor could share with me.
I haven’t had much luck with clear explanations from my surgeon either, he doesn’t seem to like elaborating much in a way that I can understand. It may be his heavy Indian accent or just that he’s very succinct, but it’s left me wondering a lot - about something I should probably understand a lot more clearly. For the time being I only know the basics - Get pneumo vaccines, and see a Dr. if I get a fever.
Does anyone have a longer history of living without a spleen who could offer some advice or knowledge on the matter?
A guy who worked for me while we were in the Navy didn’t have a spleen.
He had it removed as a child. Obviously, IANAD and this applies only to this guy, but he lived a normal life, was physically active, had a physically demanding job and needed no special considerations, and was able to deploy away from home for six months at a time without problems.
He just couldn’t drink. He said that a shot of alcohol generally knocked him out for hours - at least it did the one time he tried it. I never asked for a demonstration.
That’s one thing I have yet to do again since having it removed. The surgeon said I could drink like a fish after I healed, But after reading this, I think I’ll put a hold on that bottle of Sake’ i just bought. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I’d sucked down the whole bottle as planned. Thanks for the heads up.
That’s really the most important part. You’re at higher risk for bacterial infections (and malaria, IIRC), so if you start getting sick, get your butt to a doctor and make sure you tell them you’re spleenless.
As a medical tech, I can tell you your blood will be fun to look at under the microscope. You’ll have target-shaped cells, and little round inclusions that the spleen normally removes. Won’t affect your health, but your blood smears will probably be snatched away as demo slides for students to learn from.
I had my spleen removed in 1987, secondary to thrombocytopenia. I live a totally normal life with no restrictions. I have had some problems with vasculitis, but I still remain active (skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, hiking etc…). I haven’t had any problems with my immune system, but I did get the Lyme vaccination since I live in a high risk area. I enjoy adult beverages with no problem.
Funny you mention blood. I’ve been having an increase in platelets (719,000) and RDW of 18.3 so maybe it would be even more fun to look at. I’d certainly love to see it, but i also wanted to see my spleen before they hacked it up and didnt get the chance. Kind of fun to think of my blood smears being stolen away though.
I had a splenectomy in 1977 due to trauma. It’s basically had no significant effect on me. As others have said, get a pneumovax shot. The fact that I have no spleen probably contributes to the fact that I get a lot of bladder infections, but it’s hard to say whether that is more or less responsible for the infections than the fact that I’m paraplegic. I warn radiology and ultrasound techs that I have no spleen so they don’t go “huh?”, but other than that I don’t think about it.
Since I’m north of the border my splenectomy and various other conditions have no relevance to my medical coverage. I don’t drink anyway, so I have no idea whether my splenectomy would affect my reaction to alcohol.
I Had my spleen reoved when I was five due to ITP, I had lived a normal Life since only thing is doctors freakinf out because of my WBC and platelet spikes, other than that get your flu and pnumococal vaccines you should live a normal life…Im 48 now
I Had my spleen reoved when I was five due to ITP, I had lived a normal Life since only thing is doctors freakinf out because of my WBC and platelet spikes, other than that get your flu and pnumococal vaccines you should live a normal life…Im 48 now
I had my spleen out as a teenager due to lymphoma. Its been 20 years and I’ve never missed it, nor had the slightest complication. I do get a pneumococcus vaccine every 5 years or so and flu vaccine every year.
As alluded to above, there is one potentially life-threatening complication of not having a spleen. Specifically, asplenic individuals are at increased risk of developing (certain) fulminant, overwhelming infections by so-called encapsulated bacteria (listed in the link). Vaccines are available for several of them (Neisseria meningitis (aka meningococcus), Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae) and people without a spleen are strongly advised to get them.
Interestingly, a good percentage of people who have had their spleens removed are not actually asplenic. That is because they have much smaller accessory spleens which were not detected/excised at the time their spleen was removed (i.e. they are easily overlooked at surgery). In fact, that is rather common, occurring in perhaps ten to thirty percent of the population. People with residual accessory spleens can be identified by looking at their blood under the microscope - they do not exhibit the changes described by Antigen above. Another way to identify them is by doing a nuclear spleen scan (not a CAT scan or MRI).
I lost my spleen 15 years ago at age 40 in a vehicle accident and have been fine up until 2 years ago. I then came down with flu like symptoms and fever, which lasted about the usual time of the flu, however afterwards I was left with encephalitis type headaches, stiff neck and fatigue. Days of bed rest will leave me feeling almost 100%, however even moderate physical activity results in reappearance of the symptoms. I have had a plethora of blood tests done in the last two years, all have been negative except for Toxoplasmosis which I apparently kicked. HIV, Hep, Lymme, Mono, etc. all negative. I did have some immunizations when my spleen was removed and am checking to see what they were.
At the time of the initial occurrence I had been operating heavy equipment in a damp, forested environment in Norther California, and though I don’t travel often I have friends who are commercial pilots flying worldwide. I don’t know if either of these may have been a trigger.
I know that I am responding to a message that is several months old, but I just noticed it now because of Paul Z’s comment. I have no spleen as well. I had thought I only got a Pneumovax vaccination several years ago when I was in hospital for a few months and they realized I was asplenic but probably had never had any shots that one should get under the circumstances (I say “probably” because they’d have to pull my medical records from a few decades ago and from a different province to check).
I got Alberta Health to send me a statement a few weeks ago of what shots they had a record of (as part of the requirements for being a hospital volunteer) and lo and behold they claim that I got a meningitis, haemophilus, AND pneumonia shot, all on the same day. Are those shots normally combined into one? I’m sure I didn’t get 3 needles on the same day!
Another one asplenic people are at risk for is Capnocytophaga canimorsus. I’ve seen fulminant cases of this and it’s not pretty. So be careful around dogs and cats.
