We bet that everyone one of you have already know about the disease called anemia. So, the anemia is the disease that occurs when the amount of healthy red blood cells in the body is too low and the symptom related to anemia is also commonly occurring because of the decreased oxygen supply to the body’s vital tissue and organs since the production of the red blood cells become lower too. So, you might wonder what is the sign and symptom of anemia. In this article, you will find out a lot of symptom and sign of anemia.
- Pale Skin
The first symptom that could be the sign and in most cases you will suffer whenever you’re having the anemia is the paleness of your skin. So, the pale skin is the condition when your skin’s color has the unusual lightness compared with your normal hue. Since the paleness commonly occurs because of the reduced blood flow or decrease amount of the red blood cells, there is no doubt that the acute anemia is the common causes of this disease.
So, whenever you find out that your skin become pale because of the decreased amount of red blood cells, alongside with other symptom like:
- Rapid heart rate
- High or low blood pressure
- Shortness of breath
- Loss of consciousness
You need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible since the pale skin caused by anemia could be very fatal and indeed it is a life threatening too. The treatment of this pale skin caused by anemia including the supplementation of Vitamin B12 and iron, blood transfusion, or in severe cases, the surgery.
- General Fatigue
The net symptoms that also could indicate that you’re having the anemia is the general fatigue. In fact, this is the most common condition that could occur whenever you’re having the anemia. While this condition commonly happens because of the lifestyle choice, but when you’re experiencing sudden fatigue without reason at all, you might need to go to the doctor since it could be the sign of the serious medical conditions like anemia.
So, to ensure that you could stay away from the sudden fatigue caused by anemia, you need to give the special attention about the food that you consume. You need to take foods that have the high contents of iron, folic acids, and Vitamin B12 alongside with having regular physical activity and maintain the healthy habits.
- Jaundice
The next symptom that could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the jaundice. Jaundice is the disorder that commonly characterized when your skin and eyes turns become yellow in color. Basically, the yellow color on the skin and eyes can be occur because of the excessive amount of bilirubin in your system, which are formed by the breakdown of the dead red blood cells in the liver.
So, whenever you find out that you’re having the jaundice, you need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible since in severe cases, you need the blood transfusion in order to remove the bilirubin out of your body. But, in most cases, common jaundice will go away without the need of serious medical treatment and sometimes, the doctor will induce the phototherapy sessions to remove the excessive amount of bilirubin in the body.
- Bleeding Disorder
The next symptom that also could be the sign of anemia is the bleeding disorder. So, the bleeding disorder is the condition that affects the way the blood clots. Whenever you’re having the injury, commonly your blood will be clotting from the liquids into solids to prevent massive loss of blood. This bleeding disorder could occur when your body doesn’t have enough amount of protein called clotting factors and blood cells called platelets.
So, whenever you recognize that your bleeding doesn’t fast enough to clotting, you need to seek the medical treatment since it could lead you to the massive loss of blood and without a doubt, it will lead you to anemia and other serious medical conditions. There are several ways to treat this bleeding disorder, such as:
- Taking the supplementation of iron to replenish the amount of iron that loss whenever your body has the significant bleeding.
- You probably also need the blood transfusions if the iron supplement doesn’t work properly.
- The other treatment that also could be applied to the patient who have bleeding disorder is the injection of the clotting factor into their bloodstream so that it can prevent the excessive bleeding in the future.
- Black or Bloody Stools
The next symptom that could indicate that you’re having the anemia is the black or bloody stools whenever you’re having the bowel movement. Black or bloody stools indicate that there is a bleeding inside your GI tract and this is the sign too that you’re having the serious medical conditions.
So, whenever you’re having the black or bloody stools whenever you’re having the bowel movement, you need to go to the doctor immediately since the blood loss during the bowel movement could lead you to the anemia. Whenever you’re having the black stools and anemia, you need to have the blood transfusions as soon as possible to replenish the supply of red blood cells.
To prevent yourself from the black or bloody stools, you need to make sure that you’re having enough fluids and stay hydrated throughout the day. Also, you need to make sure that you have the sufficient intake of fiber on a daily basis.
- Low Blood Pressure
The next symptom that you would likely to get whenever you’re having the anemia is the low blood pressure. So, the people could occur the low blood pressure because of the sudden drop of the blood pressure. The sudden drop of the blood pressure commonly occurs because of the excessive loss of blood during through the injury, pregnancy, or the infections in the bloodstream.
So, whenever you’re suffering the excessive amount of blood loss and you also feel the symptoms like dizziness, sudden fatigue, blurry vision, nausea, and loss of consciousness, you need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible since you need the injections of the blood. Whenever you’re having the low blood pressure, just remember that it is very important you always hydrate yourself.
- High Blood Pressure
The next symptom that also would be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the high blood pressure. Aside from the low blood pressure, the high blood pressure is also the common symptom of the anemia. This disease is very dangerous because this disease has no symptom at all and it is impossible to suspect whether you’re having the high blood pressure or not and if you left it untreated, you will more likely to develop the more serious diseases such as stroke, heart attack, and other cardiovascular diseases.
So, as the treatment of the high blood pressure, there are several ways that you could do to relieve the symptoms of this disease such as:
- Changing the diet: eating the healthy foods is the effective way to lower the blood pressure. To lower the blood pressure, you need to eat foods such as apple, banana, orange, broccoli, carrots, and fish. You should also avoid the foods that contain high amount of sugar, red meat, and coconut oil.
- Exercise: Physical activity is one of the most important things to maintain the blood pressure and also it will help your heart to pump more blood to the other parts of the body.
- Taking various medications such as fluid pills, alpha blockers, beta blockers, and many more to lower the levels of the blood pressure.
- Iron Deficiency Anemia
The next symptom that could be the sign that you’re suffering from anemia is the iron deficiency anemia. So, iron deficiency anemia commonly occurs when your body doesn’t have enough amount of iron that cause the decreased production red blood cells in the body. There are several causes why you could suffer from this disease. But, the common causes of the iron deficiency anemia are:
- Inadequate iron intake
- Blood loss through the menstruation and pregnancy.
- Inability to absorb iron.
- Internal bleeding caused by the polyps in the intestine and the colon cancer.
Since this type of disease commonly occurs in the pregnant women, so every woman needs to take the medical check up regularly since this disease will be very dangerous for the health of your pregnancy and can delay the growth of the infants. So, to prevent this disease, you need to take the iron supplement in the recommended dosage by your doctor.
- Folic Acid Deficiency Anemia
The next symptom that could indicate that you’re having the anemia is the folic acid deficiency. Pretty similar with the iron deficiency anemia, this disease occurs when your body has the decreased production of red blood cells because your body doesn’t have the enough amount of folic acids. Basically, the folic acid commonly loses through the sweat and urination.
So, the most common causes why you could suffer from the folic acid deficiency is because of the malnutrions that comes from eating in the diet low of vitamins. To prevent yourself from having the folic acid deficiency, you need to take the folic acid supplement as well as consume the foods that contain high amount of folic acids like oranges, pinto beans, and spinach.
- Heart Palpitations
The next symptom that could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the heart palpitations. The heart palpitation is the condition when you’re feeling that your heart is racing or pounding. So, as the summary, heart palpitation could occurs when you’re feeling the abnormal rhythm on your heartbeat. There are a lot of causes why the heart palpitations could occur and commonly, this condition could go away without any special treatment.
Although this condition is not harmful at all, but take a notice that heart palpitation in regular basis could be the sign of various medical conditions like anemia. So, you still need to take the special attention to this condition. To prevent yourself from the heart palpitation, you need to do the following things:
- Limit the intake of caffeinate drink like coffee and also limit the intake of alcohol too.
- Try to stop smoking and stop using any tobacco products.
- Stick to healthy diets
- Exercise regularly
- Try to maintain and monitor the blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
- Thalassemia
The next symptoms that could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the disease called thalassemia. So, thalassemia is the disease that commonly occurs whenever the body produce the abnormal form of hemoglobin and this disease commonly related to the genes which means that you could suffer from thalassemia because one of your parents is a carrier of thalassemia. The result of this disorder is the excessive destruction of the red blood cells, which then lead you to anemia.
So, whenever you’re suffering from the common symptom of thalassemia such as jaundice, pale skin, loss of appetite, and fussiness, you need to seek the medical treatment since you’re more likely to have the blood transfusions to deal with this disease. Taking the supplement that contains high amounts of iron might be beneficial too to treat this disease.
- Megaloblastic Anemia
The next symptom that could indicate that you’re suffering from anemia is the megaloblastic anemia. So, the egaloblastic anemia is the disease whenever the body doesn’t have enough amount of 2 key nutrients that have the responsibility to produce the red blood cells. The nutrients that responsible to produce the red blood cells are the Vitamin B12 and folic acids and when the body doesn’t have enough amount of these two nutrients, the red blood cells won’t divide and reproduce the way they should.
So, whenever you’re having the megaloblastic anemia, the things that you need to do is indeed consuming the foods that contain high amount of Vitamin B12 and folic acids. You could add some Vitamin B12 in the body by consuming egg, red meat, chicken, milk, and fortified cereals while you could add some folic acids in the body by consuming oranges, pinto beans, spinach, and peanuts.
- Ulcerative Colitis
The next symptom that could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the ulcerative colitis. So, the ulcerative colitis is the inflammatory bowel disease that occurs when the lining of the large intestine and the rectum become inflamed. This inflammation caused the bowel to move its contents rapidly and thus, it will induce the formation of ulcers which will cause bleeding and discharge of mucus. This bleeding without a doubt would lead you to anemia.
So, whenever you’re feeling the symptom of the ulcerative colitis like bloody stools, diarrhea, fever, and rectal pain, you need to go to the doctor immediately since this disease could lead to various dangerous complications such as:
- Sepsis or blood infections.
- Colon cancer.
- Intestinal bleeding.
- Inflammation on skin, joint, and eyes.
To treat this disease, you need to seek the medical treatment since this is the chronic disease. The doctor might prescribe you with the medications like mesalamine, balsalazide, sulfasalazine, and many more. The surgery will also might inducted to heal the inflamed part in the body.
- Hypovolemic Shock
The next symptom that could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the hypovolemic shock. So, the hypovolemic shock is the disease that occurs when you lose more than 20 percent of your body’s blood or fluid supply. This condition surely would make the heart unable to pump the sufficient amount of blood to the other parts of your body and thus, hypovolemic shock is one of the life-threatening disease. The sudden loss of the blood and fluids in the body could occur because of the several conditions, such as:
- Prolonged diarrhea
- Excessive sweating
- Excessive vomiting
- Internal bleeding from abdominal organs.
- Bleeding from the wounds or traumatic injuries due to accidents.
- Bleeding during the pregnancy.
The hypovolemic shock is really hard to recognize until the symptoms of the shock appears. The symptoms of this disease including blood in the stool, blood in the vomiting, rapid heartbeat, pale skin, weak pulse, and loss of consciousness. So, when you’re suffering from these symptoms you need to seek the medical treatment since you will be more likely to receive the fluids or blood products via intravenous line and you might need to receive the blood plasma transfusions, platelet transfusions, and red blood cell transfusions.
- Pernicious Anemia
The next symptom that also could be the sign that you’re having the anemia is the pernicious anemia. So, the pernicious anemia is the disease that occurs when the body couldn’t absorb enough Vitamin B12 to the body. Since the progression of this disease is very slow, the detection of this disease is very hard too and whenever you’re feeling the symptom of anemia, it is a wise move to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible.
There are several ways to treat the pernicious anemia, but the most common things that the doctor would do is give you the Vitamin B12 injections. As the option, you also need to increase the intake of Vitamin B12 by consuming the foods such as meat, fish, egg, dairy products, and fortified nuts and soy.
- Hemophilia
The next symptom that also could indicate and lead you to the anemia is the hemophilia. Hemophilia is the inherited blood disease that occurs when the people have the low levels of protein called clotting factors and thus, it makes the blood doesn’t clot as they should. Commonly, people with hemophilia bleeding easily and whenever they’re bleeding, the blood takes longer time to clot and this is one of the life threatening disease.
In the most cases, people with hemophilia could suffer from the accident called spontaneous bleeding, which is occurring when you’re bleeding with no reason at all. Commonly, the spontaneous bleeding can cause:
- Blood in the stool
- Blood in the urine
- Bleeding gums.
- Frequent nosebleed.
So, to treat the disease of hemophilia, you need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible too. The doctor would prescribe you the injection of the hormone called desmopressin into your vein so it can stimulate the factors that responsible for the process of blood clotting.
- Leukemia
The next sign and also the possible causes that can lead you to anemia is the disease called leukemia. So, leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells, especially the cancer of the white blood cells. Leukemia disease is also considered as the life threatening disease so that you need to seek the medical treatment if you’re suffering from the following symptoms:
- Excessive sweating, especially during the night so that it commonly called night sweat.
- Fatigue and weakness that won’t go away with the enough rest.
- Bone pain and tenderness
- Easily bleeding
- Frequent infections
- Unintentional weight loss
Whenever you’re having the leukemia, there are several treatments to regarding your condition. These are the most common treatments for the patient that suffers from leukemia:
- Chemotherapy uses the drugs to kill the leukemia cells.
- Radiation therapy uses high energy radiation.
- Stem cell transplantation
- Immune therapy to help your immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.
- Hypothyroidism
The next symptom that also could indicate that you’re having the anemia is the hypothyroidism. So, hypothyroidism is the disease that could occur whenever your thyroid gland couldn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. The insufficient amount of thyroid hormone in the body would interfere the body’s ability to perform normal metabolic functions such as maintain the health of the cells, bones, muscles. Hypothyroidism is commonly occurring because of the autoimmune disorder and surgical removal.
Sadly, there are no specific symptoms related to the hypothyroidism, but the untreated hypothyroidism could lead you to the obesity, joint pain, infertility, and heart disease. So, the hypothyroidism commonly treated with the injection of the synthetic thyroid hormone and this hormone is very safe and affordable too. You need to obey the doctor since the right dosage would take the metabolic rate become normal again.
- Sickle Cell Anemia
The next symptom that could indicate that you’re having the anemia and also could lead you to anemia is the disease called sickle cell anemia. So, sickle cell anemia is the genetic disease of the red blood cells. Normally, the red blood cells have the discs shape, which will enable them to travel through the blood vessels easily. Meanwhile, when you’re having the sickle cell anemia, the red blood cells will have the abnormal shape which will make them become rigid and can get trapped in the vessels.
The symptoms of sickle cell anemia usually show up during the young ages and the symptoms of this disease is stated as follows:
- Excessive fatigue or irritability
- Bedweeting
- Fussiness
- Jaundice
- Frequent infections
- Chest pain
So, the treatment of the sickle cell anemia can be done by several ways. These are the common treatment of sickle cell anemia:
- Taking the antibiotics like penicilin.
- Pain medication
- Immunization
- Surgery
- Difficult of Breathing
The next symptoms that could happen to you as the indication that you’re having the anemia is the difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath. The shortness of breath is the condition whenever you feel that you can’t get enough air from breathing. While the most common thing about why you’re having the shortness of breath is because of the stress and anxiety, but the regular difficulty of breathing could also become the sign from various medical conditions, including anemia.
So, whenever you’re having the shortness of breath, you need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible since it could be the sign of various medical problems related to the anemia such as hypertension and pulmonary embolism.
Now you already know all of the sign and symptom of the anemia. Anemia is a kind of conditions that could be the sign of various medical conditions. So, whenever you’re suffering from the anemia, you need to overcome this problem as soon as possible by taking the supplementation of foods that have the high contents of iron, folic acids, and Vitamin B12. Stay healthy.