Anemia symptoms and description

ANEMIA
Description

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Symptoms

Breathing - difficulty	Fatigue/exhaustion	Head - ache
Heart - beat increase	Mental concentration - disorder	Skin - pale (pallor)

Description

Anemia is a condition that develops when red blood cell count or hemoglobin is less than normal. The lack of hemoglobin (haemoglonin) does not allow the cells of the body to get enough oxygen.

Anemia is commonly diagnosed when blood analyses show the following levels of hemoglobin:
• Men: less than 13.5 gram/100 ml.
• Women: less than 12.0 gram/100 ml.

During anemia, the Mean Corpuscular Volume or MCV value from blood analysis can be low (less than 80). In this case the anemia is called microcytic. However, the MCV can be normal (between 80-100), in which case is called normocytic anemia or high (more than 100), called macrocytic anemia.

Fatigue is the main visible symptom observed during anemia. However, some patients may have vague symptoms or not symptoms at all.

Some risk factors include:

• Iron - deficiency. It is the most common type.
• Genetic. Certain forms of anemia are inherited.
• Age. Risk of anemia may increase on older adults.
• Gender. Women are at increased risk of anemia as far as they are vulnerable to blood loss from menstruation or increased blood supply demands during pregnancy.

Types of anemia:

There are several hundreds types of anemia. They are usually classified by the cause of the disorder. Therefore anemia can be caused by:
• Excessive blood loss
• Decrease of red blood cell production
• Destruction of red blood cells

Diagnosis

Anemia can be confirmed with a Complete Blood Count test.

More information:

Anemia Treatment
Anemia Healthcare Centers