Anemia Symptoms

Anemia: Introduction

Anemia is the lack of red blood cells in your blood. These cells work to transport oxygen from your lungs to other parts of your body.

Lack of iron in your blood is thought to be the main cause of anemia as your body is losing red blood cells faster and this shortage is not adequately restored to required levels.

Signs of anemia include a feeling of tiredness and weakness. Left unattended, anemia can lead to serious health complications including organ failure.

What are the different Anemia Symptoms?

As your body tissues are deprived of adequate amount of oxygen, you will often feel weak and tired most of the time.

This is because your heart and lungs work harder to pass oxygen into your blood. Anemia signs and symptoms are difficult to identify in the initial stage because they are mild. As the condition progresses, the symptoms get severe and resemble those of other serious disease.

Once the disease has reached an advanced stage you get fatigue and find it difficult to find energy for your daily tasks. As a matter of fact, fatigue is among the most common symptoms of anemia.

Common symptoms for anemia:

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Paleness of skin
• Breath shortness
• Concentration difficulties
• Coldness in extremities (hands and feet)
• Depression
• Rapid heart beats
• Confusion

Identified as a genetic problem, the most dangerous type is sickle cell anemia. It makes your body produce abnormal shaped blood cells. The shape of the abnormal blood cells is that of a sickle as the name suggests.

The shape of the cells makes it cling to blood cells, causing obstruction in blood flow. This can cause damage to your organs and result in varying degrees of pain.

Left unattended, complications can cause your major organs to fail. Moreover, the symptoms for sickle cell anemia include stroke, eye problems, gallstones, leg ulcers, severe infections, blood pressure in the lungs among others.

In addition, severe complications of sickle cell anemia can lead to multiple organ failure where two out of your three major organs fail. The three major organs include your liver, lungs and kidneys.

Most symptoms in women are the same as in men. Pregnant women face iron deficiency and are more prone to anemia as their body has to provide iron to itself as well as the growing fetus. The signs for anemia, including iron deficiency, can be overcome through adequate iron supplements.