Low Hemoglobin

When I was younger, my mother took me to the doctor often. That was when I first heard the term "anemia." Growing up, I somehow got interested in learning more about the term, so I read medical journals, surfed the Internet and met up with people who knew more about it. I realized that all the information I had gathered was of no use till it shared it with others, so here it is...

The protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and in turn returns carbon dioxide is called hemoglobin. The red color in blood is because of the iron contained in hemoglobin.

What is Anemia?

When your body is anemic, it produces too few healthy red blood cells, loses too many of them or destroys them faster than they can be replaced. Due to this problem blood becomes low in red blood cells that carry oxygen to your tissue because of which you become tired. Anemia is a common blood disorder that can be temporary or long term and range from mild to severe.

Symptoms of Anemia

Fatigue is the most common symptom of anemia, other symptoms include:

• Headache
• A feeling of weakness
• Shortness of breath
• Cognitive problems
• Pain in the chest
• Pale skin
• Fast/Irregular heartbeat
• Dizziness

Causes of Anemia

There are many forms of anemia with each of them having their own cause:

Iron Deficiency Anemia
This is the most common form of anemia. The cause of this anemia is the shortage of the iron in your body, which is required by the bone marrow to manufacture blood. When there is inadequate iron in the body it is unable to produce red blood cells. One of the methods the body employs to get blood is when blood cells die, the iron in them is recycled to produce new blood cells. Thus if you lose blood, you lose iron too. Women with heavy periods, people who have slow, chronic blood loss within the body and pregnant women are at risk. An iron-poor diet also leads to iron deficiency anemia.

Vitamin Deficiency Anemia
Apart from iron the body requires vitamin B-12 and folate to produce sufficient number of healthy blood cells. When these are lacking in the diet, it could lead to a decreased blood cell production. People who have an intestinal disorder that affects the absorption of nutrients are inclined to this type of anemia. Those people who are unable to absorb vitamin B-12 for a variety of reasons are at risk too. Vitamin deficiency anemias fall into the category – megaloblastic anemias. In this type of anemia, the bone marrow produces large, abnormal red blood cells.

Anemia of Chronic Disease
Chronic disease likes cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease as also other inflammatory diseases interfere with the production of the red blood cells, which results in chronic anemia. Another cause of anemia can be kidney failure, as the kidneys produce a hormone called erythropoietin, which stimulates your bone marrow to produce red blood cells. It is a shortage of erythropoietin that can result in a shortage of red blood cells.

Aplastic Anemia
Aplastic anemia is a caused by a decrease in the bone marrow’s ability to produce all three types of blood cells – red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Though at times the cause of aplastic anemia is unknown it is often believed to be an autoimmune disease. Some of the factors that are responsible for this type of anemia include chemotherapy, environmental toxins, radiation therapy, pregnancy and lupus.

Anemia Associated With Bone Marrow Disease
Diseases like leukemia and myelodysplasia, a pre-leukemia condition, can cause anemia by affecting blood production in the bone marrow. These types of cancer and cancer-like disorders vary from a mild alteration in blood production to a complete life-threatening shutdown in the process of making blood.

Hemolytic Anemia
When red blood cells are destroyed faster than bone marrow can reproduce them, they give rise to this group of anemias. Increased red blood cell destruction can give rise to certain blood diseases, medications like antibiotics and autoimmune diseases can cause destruction to the red blood cells too. Hemolytic anemias can cause yellowing of the skin and an enlarged spleen too.

Sickle Cell Anemias
This is a serious and inherited form of anemia that usually affects people of African and Arabic descent. This form of anemia is caused by a defective form of hemoglobin that forces the red blood cells to take up abnormal crescent shapes. A chronic shortage of red blood cells takes place because of the permanent death of these irregular-shaped red blood cells. Not only this, these sickle shaped red blood cells also block blood that flow through small blood vessels in the body, which often produce painful symptoms.

Other Anemias
There are other forms of anemia too such as thalassemia and anemias caused by defective hemoglobin.

Risk Factors

You may face an increased risk of anemia because of the following reasons:

• Poor Diet
• Disorders of the Intestine
• Pregnancy
• Menstruation
• Acute Conditions
• Family History

Diagnosis

To help diagnose anemia, doctors study the medical history, conduct a physical exam and blood tests, including a complete blood count. This blood test enables the doctor to measure the levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells in your blood. To study the size, shape and color of your red blood cells, some of your blood may also be measured under a microscope. Once the diagnosis is received, your doctor may order additional tests to determine the underlying cause.

Prevention

Despite the fact that many types of anemia are unavoidable, you can help avoid iron deficiency and vitamin deficiency anemia by eating a healthy and varied diet. This kind of diet is especially important for people who have high iron requirements, like children, pregnant and menstruating women, infants and long-distance runners.