Definition
Anemia is a disease which is caused mainly due to the lack of iron in your body. If you have this disease, your body stops producing red blood cells which contain oxygen for your body organs and tissues and starts destroying your blood cells.
Causes
Anemia is mainly caused for the lack of iron in your body. In your bone marrow, red blood cells are produced. These have lifetime of 100 to 120 days. If you do an average calculation, 2 million red blood cells are produced by your bone marrow. Also, the same number of cells are removed from your body due to circulation. The causes of anemia are classified into two factors: decrement of red blood production and increment of red blood destruction. During pregnancy, lacks of iron in your diet is seen. This is another reason of anemia. Heavy period is a common cause of anemia. Because your body losses iron. You lose red blood cells more quickly than they can be restored when you are bleeding.
Symptoms
Several symptoms of anemia are seen. Few of them are given below:
- Headache
- Pain in chest
- Yellow skin
- Breath shortness
- Dizziness
- Irregular or rapid heartbeat
- Fatigue
- Pale nails, skin and gums
- Cold feet and hand
- Weakness
- Growth problem for teens and children
Types of anemia
There are several types of anemia:
Iron-deficiency: This type anemia is occurred when your body doesn’t have enough iron. This is the most common type of anemia.
Vitamin deficiency: Besides iron your body also needs vitamin and folate. Vitamin B12 helps to produce healthier red blood cells. The lack of vitamin B12 can cause vitamin deficiency anemia which is also known as pernicious anemia.
Aplastic anemia: This type of anemia is rare and life threatening. It occurs at that time when your body stops to produce sufficient red blood cells. Certain medicines, infections, exposure to chemicals, autoimmune diseases are the causes of this type of anemia.
Inflammation anemia: Some conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, renal illness, Crohn's disease, and other acute or chronic inflammatory conditions, might affect the generation of red blood cells.
Associated with bone marrow disease: Some diseases like myelofibrosis and leukemia can cause this type of anemia. When you are attacked by this anemia, your body blood production is affected by these type of diseases. These cancers' and cancer-like illnesses' consequences range from minor to potentially fatal.
Hemolytic anemias: This is a group of anemias. When your body red blood cells are destroyed faster than these can be replaced by bone marrow, this occurs. This can be developed later in life.
Sickle cell anemia: The red blood cells' aberrant crescent shape is brought on by a faulty version of hemoglobin. These irregular blood cells are dead prematurely.
Risk factors
There are several risk factors for anemia. A clear risk factor is not taking iron, vitamin, and folate rich food in diet. This increases risk for anemia. During pregnancy, if iron and folic acid rich multivitamin is not taken, risk is increased. Also, if your family has a history of any type of anemia, you have also the risk of the same type of anemia. Over 65 aged people are at risk of this disease. Some other chronic diseases like cancer, kidney failure could lead to the shortage of iron deficiency anemia.
Prevention
Several kinds of anemia can’t be prevented. But iron and vitamin deficiency anemia can be avoided by having iron and vitamin rich foods in your diet. Iron rich food may include meats, lentils, dark green leafy vegetables, beans, dried fruits etc. Meat, fortified cereal, dairy products are some foods which are rich with vitamin B-12. All kinds of fruits are enrich with vitamin C. By taking these foods anemia can be prevented.
Cure
Treatment of anemia relies on by what it is being caused. Once the cause of your anemia is diagnosed, the doctor will start treatment. He may give you a blood test. In the test, if it shows that your body’s blood cell is low, he may prescribe you iron tablet by which the lack of anemia can be overcome. Additionally, if you drink orange juice after taking an iron tablet, this will help your body to absorb the medicine. Also he may provide you a diet which contain proper amount of iron, vitamins and other nutrients. Blood transfusion may be essential in this case. During this period, you may have to receive blood donation from another person who has the same blood group of your body.
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