Pernicious anemia is anemia that appears due to a lack of such an important vitamin as B12. The deficit itself can be caused by the fact that a person does not eat right or his body simply lost the ability to absorb it. Often, this disease is inherited.
It is worth recalling that anemia is nothing more than a disease that is associated with a lack of red blood cells (red blood cells). With it, blood becomes unable to deliver as much oxygen as needed to the tissue cells. The consequences of anemia are different. The main and universal, perhaps, is chronic fatigue.
Pernicious anemia can cause cells to simply stop dividing or to become really big enough so that they cannot leave the bone marrow.
Vitamin B12 in our body for the reason that it is he who is responsible for the formation of red blood cells. It also favorably affects the functioning of the nervous system. As a rule, a person gets it from meat, fish, eggs and various dairy products. It is not uncommon for the body to miss it, not because a person doesn’t eat the right foods, but because the stomach lacks protein, without which B12 is not absorbed.
By the way, a curious fact is that pernicious anemia often torments those who chose the wrong diet to fight excess weight. I think everyone understands what is at stake.
Pernicious Anemia: Symptoms
It develops very slowly, and its first symptoms usually appear when the human body is weakened (for example, after an infectious disease). Most affected are people from thirty-five to sixty years old. Sex does not matter.
Symptoms can be identified as follows:
- burning tongue;
- the patient constantly feels a tingling sensation in the fingers;
- chronic fatigue;
- muscle pains appear;
- decreased appetite;
- appears, diarrhea, vomiting, belching. Flatulence is quite possible;
- the skin loses sensitivity.
It is also worth mentioning that the tongue turns bright red.
This disease always progresses in the spring.
Pernicious anemia may well lead to pathologies of the nervous system, heart, and much more. All this means that treatment should be started immediately after the disease has been diagnosed. The diagnosis, as a rule, is made by the doctor after he listens to all the patient's complaints and checks the test results. Anemia is not always difficult to detect in the early stages, which means that a lot depends on your attending physicians in this case.
Pernicious anemia: treatment and prevention of the disease
All treatment usually comes down to the fact that the patient is administered B12 in certain doses. Unfortunately, some people will have to take it until the end of their days on earth.
During treatment, doctors try to make up for the lack of the necessary vitamin, eliminate the consequences of this disease, and also eliminate the cause (if pernicious anemia was caused by not eating properly).
I would like to note that vitamin B12 can be injected with a syringe or taken in pill form. In mild cases, only a few days after the start of the intake, the first improvements will appear, and after one or two weeks the person will forget that he had this ailment.
Regarding prophylaxis, it is worth saying that you need to eat properly, and not just anyhow. Diet is a good thing, however, you should not take it from a source that causes at least some doubts. Ask your friends, consult with a dietitian - you should not rush, as it is much easier to undermine your health than to restore it.
Of course, you need to use all kinds of vitamin complexes, which contain a lot of B12.