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Anemia Information
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Anemia Information


What Are Amenia?
The literal meaning of the word Anemia (also spelled Anaemia) is lacking blood or without blood. People suffering from the condition known as Anemia have a deficiency of red blood cells and/or hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protien found in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Anemia reduces the ability of your blood to transfer oxygen to the various tissues throughout the body. There are three main causes of Anemia. The causes include the following:

• Hemorrhage – excessive blood loss.
• Hemolysis – excessive red blood cell destruction.
• Deficient red blood cell production

Of all possible blood disorders, Anemia is the most common. There are several kinds of Anemia. produced by a variety of underlying causes. Consider the following Anemia classifications:

• Decreased Anemia ( Microcytic Anemia)
• Normal Anemia ( Normocytic Anemia)
• Enlarged Anemia ( Macrocytic Anemia or Megaloblastic Anemia).

Anemia goes undetected in many people; however, understanding what the potenetial symptoms may be will help people to diagnose Anemia. The following is a list of symptoms, which should be reviewd carefully:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Palpitations
• Sweatiness

The most common type of Anemia is Iron Deficiency Anemia. Iron Deficiency Anemia is caused when a persons dietary intake or iron absorption is insufficient. Iron is a critical part of hemoglobin. Thus, low iron level will decrease the quantities of hemoglobin in red blood cells causing poor oxygenation of the various tissues of the body. Much less common causes of Anemia are hemoglobinopathies such as Sickle-Cell Disease and Thalassemia.

Anemia develops for a variety of reasons although many of the causes are rare in relation to Iron Deficiency Anemia. As a result of the variety of Anemia Causes, Anemia is referred to and named using the following distictions in addition to the classifications listed above:

• Sideroblastic Anemia – caused by abnormal production of red blood cells.
• Aplastic Anemia – caused by the bone marrow’s inability to produce blood cells.
• Megaloblastic Anemia – caused by a deficiency of either vitamin B12 or folic acid
• Pernicious Anemia – caused by the inability to absorb vitamin B12 from food.

 




 




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