What is Anemia ? Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Anemia.

 what is anemia?

Anemia is the term doctors use when a person has too few red blood cells than the normal level red blood cells are the cells in your blood that carry oxygen when the number of red blood cells is too low your body might not get all the oxygen to organs such as brain and lung

what are the symptoms of anemia?

 Many people with iron deficiency anemia have no symptoms people who do have symptoms might fatigue you feel tired or weak you get shortness of breath especially if they try to exercise or walk upstairs you can have light headaches you have trouble thinking clearly or a hard time concentrating you get cold hands and feet a fast or irregular heartbeat your skin gets pale brittle nails your nails break easily

What are the causes of anemia?

There are four types of anemia according to causes 

1) Most common type is iron deficiency anemia by a shortage of iron in your body. It is also caused by blood loss such as from heavy menstrual periods or hemorrhoids. Chronic bleeding by colon cancer or gastric cancer can cause iron deficiency anemia.

2) The deficiency of vitamin b2 and folate if you are a vegetarian or have chronic alcoholism you can't get enough folate or vitamin b12 besides iron folate and vitamin b12 are important to produce enough red blood cells

 3) Anemia of inflammation chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis Crohn's disease cancer HIV make inflammation in your body and other acute or chronic inflammatory diseases 

4) Autoimmune anemia immune system problems where the body destroys or cannot make red blood cells

 5) Bone marrow disease a bone marrow is the place of blood production if you get leukemia and aplastic anemia it can cause by affecting blood production in your bone marrow

 is there a test for anemia 

yes, your doctor tests your blood for anemia workup the things they most often check are the hemoglobin level and hematocrit by complete blood count or CBC further testing is used to confirm the diagnosis serum iron measures how much iron is circulating in the blood total iron-binding capacity TI bc or transferrin ferritin measures a protein that stores iron in the liver and spleen you also might be tested for conditions such as kidney disease and vitamin deficiencies lack vitamins such as b12 and folic acid if you have anemia due to internal blowing doctors may suggest several tests to look for the source of the bleeding a test to check the stool for blood might be done in your doctor's office or at home if blood is found in the stool you may have other tasks to find the source of the bleeding one such test is endoscopy such as colonoscopy and gastroscopy to see your digestive tract get bleeding focus last if the doctor suspects that you have the problem of making red blood marrow we can do bone marrow tests 

how is iron-deficiency anemia treated? 

T
he first step in treatment is to find out whether your anemia is caused by blood loss if so your doctor or nurse will want to find out why you are bleeding blood loss can be related to stomach ulcers bowel problems or other issues and women blood loss can be related to heavy periods whatever the cause of your anemia your doctor or nurse can treat it by giving you iron if the anemia is severe you might need a blood transfusion you might also need treatment for the cause of the bleeding people with iron deficiency anemia need to get iron eating foods with an iron will not do enough to cure the anemia you can get extra iron in pills or through a thin tube that goes into a vein called an IV most people get it in pills your doctor or nurse will tell you how much to take and for how long iron pills can cause side effects such as upset stomach and constipation to a few bowels movements if you have side effects ask your doctor or nurse what to do they can suggest ways to reduce these side effects or switch you to IV iron