The first line of treatment was high dose prednisone. I was on 60 mg daily for almost 6 months, then slowly tapering for the next year. Prednisone was not having the desired effect, so I was given infusions of IVIg (intravenous immunoglobulin G) which is human antibodies. That did not work either. The next step was Rituxin treatments. I had a total of 4 (1 x week for 4 weeks). My blood counts improved marginally after this. I think I improved to an H&H of 9 and 28. The final step for me was splenectomy. The spleen is where blood cells that are tagged by the body for destruction for some reason or other (old, damaged, virus, etc.) are destroyed. Apparently the more blood cells the spleen catches and kills, the bigger the spleen gets, so it can catch and kill more and more, all the while growing bigger and bigger(splenomegaly). The immediate danger of an enlarged spleen in rupture with severe internal bleeding and death if not immediately corrected. My spleen was starting to grow quite a bit. After splenectomy my blood counts improved to H&H of 13 and 39 and have held steady for the past several years.
The testing included both direct and indirect Coomb's tests, serum bilirubin, serum haptoglobin, reticulocyte counts, H&H and RBCs, Urinalysis for hemoglobin and bilirubin, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and peripheral blood smear. Testing can also differentiate whether it is warm antibody or cold antibody AIHA (warm antibody is most common) as the treament can vary a little accordingly. Hope this helps!