There are quite a few different diseases of the circulatory system. The most common of these is anemia. Today we will find out what anemia is, how it is classified, diagnosed and treated.
general characteristics
So, let's figure out what anemia is. Anemia is a pathological condition of the body in which the level of hemoglobin and the number of red blood cells in the blood are reduced. Red blood cells are synthesized in the red bone marrow from protein and non-protein components. They are responsible for the transport of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients and metabolic products, between tissues and cells. The erythrocyte cavity is filled with hemoglobin protein, consisting mainly of iron. It is hemoglobin that gives the red color to these blood cells, and also helps them in transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide.
With anemia due to a decrease in the number of red blood cells, the body’s ability to gas exchange is reduced. As a result, a person is faced with symptoms such as loss of strength, drowsiness, and irritability. Anemia does not occur on its own and is a sign of other, more serious diseases. Its severe forms can lead to tissue hypoxia and complications. Therefore, when identifying symptoms of anemia, it is necessary to undergo an examination and find out why it appeared.
Causes of occurrence
There are quite a few reasons for developing anemia. The disease itself is extremely rare. Usually it appears as a result of a malfunction of the internal organs, affecting the composition of the blood.
The main causes of anemia:
- Improper nutrition. A deficiency in the diet of such products can lead to an increase in hemoglobin in the blood: meat, eggs, fish, liver, spinach, beets, beans and prunes.
- Pregnancy and lactation. During these two periods, the child takes a large amount of nutrients and trace elements from the woman’s body. It is important to make up for these losses by consuming iron-containing foods or vitamin complexes.
- Loss of large quantities of blood. This can occur as a result of bleeding (hemorrhoidal, nasal, uterine, renal, and gastric), injuries, or surgery.
- Chronic diseases Such diseases as tuberculosis, pneumonia, cancer, pyelonephritis and other diseases that cause depletion of the body can bring hemoglobin levels down.
- Poisoning. Anemia can develop with excessive destruction of red blood cells. In most cases, this phenomenon is caused by a hereditary factor, but sometimes it can be triggered by toxic poisoning. The cause of such poisoning can be the ingestion of the following substances: arsenic, lead, bee and snake venom, copper.
- Gastritis. This ailment leads to a decrease in acidity. Digestion of foods is getting worse, resulting in an insufficient amount of trace elements entering the body.
- Illiterate diets. Trying to get rid of excess fat, many excessively reduce the calorie content of their diet. As a result, the body receives an insufficient amount of iron.
The body does not absorb iron and vitamin B12. This can happen with HIV infections, Crohn's disease, intestinal infections, and stomach surgery. In addition, the body assimilates iron in different ways from different products. So, from animal products, the body receives from 10 to 15% of this element, while plant food gives only 15.
Having figured out what anemia is and why it appears, we proceed to the classification of pathology.
Classification
A disease such as anemia can be triggered by completely different reasons. In medicine, it is classified according to severity, pathogenesis and associated symptoms. So, the classification of anemia: iron deficiency, aplastic, folic acid deficiency, sickle cell, posthemorrhagic and Diamond-Blackfen anemia. We will dwell on each type separately.
Iron-deficiency anemia
A healthy human body contains about 4-5 grams of iron, more than 50% of which are part of hemoglobin. Iron stores in the bone marrow, liver, and spleen. Every day, this trace element leaves the body with sweat, urine and feces. Therefore, in the human diet should always be foods rich in iron.
Iron deficiency anemia is most susceptible to pregnant women and infants. In addition, this physiological disturbance may affect people suffering from chronic blood loss and impaired intestinal absorption.
Symptoms of this disease are: headaches, shortness of breath, tinnitus, tachycardia, drowsiness, and constant fatigue. The skin of a patient with iron deficiency anemia turns pale and dries up, and the hairline, along with the nails, becomes brittle. Such people like the smell of wet concrete and the taste of chalk.
Iron deficiency anemia can be identified using a clinical blood test. The disease is accompanied by a decrease in blood levels of hemoglobin and red bodies, as well as a significant decrease in the content of reticulocytes.
Aplastic anemia
This type of physiological disturbance affects the stem cells of the bone marrow and thereby inhibits hematopoiesis - the process of formation and development of blood cells. It can be either acquired or hereditary and requires serious therapy. In 80% of cases, aplastic anemia is fatal. Fortunately, this form of the disease is found in only 0.0005% of the world's population. Her insidiousness lies in the fact that children and youth are most exposed to her.
Acquired forms of aplastic anemia are often associated with a side effect of the use of certain medications. Moreover, the dosage and duration of the therapeutic course are not important here. Medicines that can cause this physiological disturbance include: antihistamines, tetracycline antibiotics, sulfonamides and gold preparations. In addition, ionizing radiation used in x-ray studies can provoke pathology. It poses a danger to employees of clinics that conduct these studies and treat patients with radio wave therapy.
The disease can also be caused by toxic substances that are part of the drugs for the treatment of cancer pathologies. In autoimmune diseases, aplastic anemia can occur due to the fact that immunity seeks to eliminate not only pathogenic agents, but also its bone marrow cells.
People suffering from this disease have general weakness and cause fatigue. They may also experience bleeding gums, nosebleeds, blanching of the skin, fever, and lower blood pressure. And in the fairer sex, the disease can be accompanied by prolonged and intensive menstruation.
Folic Deficiency Anemia
Folic acid is a vital substance for the human body. If its reserves in the body are reduced, folic deficiency anemia begins. As a rule, this physiological disturbance is associated with gastrointestinal diseases, in which the small intestine absorbs useful substances worse.
The symptomatology of the disease is quite extensive, so it is quite difficult to determine it, especially in the initial stages. The most common signs of folic acid deficiency anemia are: palpitations, shortness of breath, unreasonable weakness, fatigue, tinnitus and dizziness.
If a patient has this disorder, before starting drug therapy, a good doctor will recommend a review of the diet. Among foods rich in folic acid can be noted: carrots, herbs, grapefruit, bran bread, eggs, liver and honey. In most cases, the introduction of these products into the diet allows you to cope with the problem without the use of drugs.
Sickle cell anemia
This pathology is associated with a violation of the structure of the hemoglobin protein. It is characterized by the appearance of an unusual crystalline form - hemoglobin S. The red blood cells that contain such a substance acquire a sickle shape, which is the name of this type of anemia.
Red blood cells with hemoglobin S are less stable and transport nutrients more slowly. As a result, due to the defeat, their life cycle is shortened. This is accompanied by an increase in hemolysis and the appearance of the first symptoms of hypoxia.
This pathology is inherited. In patients with heterozygous genetics, in the blood system, in addition to sickle bodies with hemoglobin S, there are normal bodies with hemoglobin A. In this case, the deviation passes in a mild form and is practically not expressed. In people with homozygous genetics, normal red blood cells are absent, so the disease is much more severe.
Such anemia can be accompanied by hemolytic crises, swelling of the extremities, visual impairment, enlarged spleen, and jaundice.
Posthemorrhagic anemia
This type of anemia occurs in the event of excessive blood loss caused by various injuries, surgical interventions and internal bleeding. In people who have encountered such an ailment, their body temperature decreases, the pulse quickens, cold sweat appears, dizziness occurs with loss of consciousness, and pressure drops.
The severity of symptoms does not directly correlate with the amount of blood lost. The general condition of the patient depends more on the rate of bleeding than on the amount of blood lost. Blood pressure in some cases may decrease as part of the body's response to pain.
Severe and dangerous is the condition of a person who has lost more than half a liter of blood. In this case, vascular insufficiency and oxygen starvation develop, caused by the loss of a large number of red blood cells. Without timely measures, death can occur.
Diamond-Blackfen Anemia
If many are familiar with the first types of the disease, then few know what Diamond-Blackfen anemia is. The reason for the development of this pathology is a disruption in the functioning of the bone marrow, which is responsible for the production of blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. Most often, this deviation is observed in infants in the first months of their life.
About 50% of patients with Diamond-Blackfen anemia experience physical disabilities:
- Hanging eyelids.
- Wide fit eyes.
- Wide and flat nose bridge.
- Small and low set ears.
- Small lower jaw.
- Hole in the sky.
In addition to the described abnormalities, the following symptoms can be observed: visual impairment, malfunctioning of the heart and kidneys, urethral opening in guys.
Diamond-Blackfen Anemia is treated with corticosteroids and blood transfusion. In order to avoid the child’s addiction to hormones, the treatment is systematically interrupted. In adolescence, the body's need for corticosteroids disappears, and the level of hemoglobin in the blood normalizes.
Degrees of anemia
Easy degree. The beginning of the development of pathology is accompanied by a slight decrease in the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. With mild anemia, people experience general malaise, a drop in concentration and fatigue. As a rule, patients do not pay attention to these symptoms, explaining them by lack of sleep and excessive workload. In women with mild anemia, the hemoglobin content varies in the aisles of 90-110 g / l, and in men - 100-120 g / l.
Medium degree. The hemoglobin content decreases to 70-90 g / l in women and 90-100 g / l in men. To this degree of anemia, more serious symptoms occur: tachycardia, headache attacks, shortness of breath and dizziness.
Severe degree. In chronic anemia, in addition to the listed symptoms, a person’s limbs begin to go numb, nails and hair deteriorate, and the sense of smell changes.
Danger of anemia
If you do not diagnose anemia in a timely manner and start to eliminate it, then it can cause significant harm to your health. Regardless of the type of pathology, it increases the risk of oxygen starvation of the most important internal organs. The most terrible and serious complication of anemia is hypoxic coma, which in more than 50% of cases leads to death. In addition, a person with this physiological disorder is at risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease and respiratory failure. In women, the menstrual cycle may be disturbed, and in children irritability and inattention appears.
Symptoms
Signs of anemia depend on its type, stage and cause, which triggered the ailment. However, there are general symptoms characteristic of all types of pathology:
- Pale skin and mucous membranes.
- Dry and sagging skin.
- Cracks in the corners of the mouth that do not heal for more than a week.
- Swelling of the legs and face in the evening.
- Changing the structure of the nail plate (lamination and the appearance of furrows).
- Drying, brittleness and hair loss.
- Regular causeless headaches.
- Malaise, breakdown and constant fatigue.
- Dizziness at rest.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of anemia begins with the patient telling the doctor how long the symptoms of the alleged disease have been showing, and what measures have been taken to alleviate the condition. To confirm or refute the diagnosis, the doctor sends the patient to take tests:
- General blood analysis. It is carried out almost at every visit to the doctor. In this case, it is necessary to determine the amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
- Complete blood count. It is carried out to determine the amount of hemoglobin in the red blood cell. It provides information on the functioning of the bone marrow.
- Blood chemistry. The amount of iron and various fractions of bilirubin is determined by blood donated from a vein.
After receiving the results of all studies, the doctor can establish an accurate diagnosis, as well as the type and severity of anemia. In addition, he can identify the cause of the pathology. Based on the data received, treatment is prescribed.
We already know what anemia is and how dangerous it is, it remains to figure out how to deal with this ailment.
Anemia Treatment
In order for the therapy to have the desired effect, it must be comprehensive. All efforts are aimed at eliminating the cause of anemia, which is only a symptom of a more serious disease. As a rule, after eliminating the very cause, the hemoglobin level quickly returns to normal.
Answering the question of how to treat anemia, it is worth noting that at the initial stage of pathology, it is not necessary to resort to taking medications. It is enough to enrich your diet with iron-containing products. If the doctor decided that medication cannot be dispensed with, then he prescribes agents that stimulate bone marrow activity in order to increase the amount of hemoglobin and red blood cells in the blood in a short time. In most cases, these are iron-containing preparations (Totetema, Fenyuls, Actiferrin, Sorbifer) and vitamin complexes.
Folk remedies to combat anemia
Despite the fact that pharmacies offer a huge variety of medicines to treat anemia, many people prefer traditional medicine. With self-treatment, it is extremely important to strictly follow the formulations and dosages. Periodically (at least once a month) it is necessary to donate blood in order to understand whether therapy brings results, and whether it is worth continuing. Now let's get acquainted with the main recipes of traditional medicine in the fight against anemia.
Vegetable smoothie. To prepare the product, you need to peel and grate the same amount of the following ingredients: carrots, beets, and black radish. After mixing the resulting liquid, it must be poured into a pan and put in the oven for three hours. The tool is taken daily, a tablespoon for adults, and a teaspoon for children.
Fruit cocktail. To treat anemia with fruit, you need to mix one part of apple, carrot and lemon juice with two parts of pomegranate juice. About 70 grams of honey should be added to the resulting cocktail. For two days, the product is infused in the refrigerator. You need to take it 2 tablespoons three times a day.
Berry cocktail. To prepare this tool, you need to mix equal amounts of strawberry juice, mountain ash and black currant. You need to take it twice a day for 125 milliliters.
Tincture of wormwood. This is a fairly effective treatment for anemia, but it is not suitable for children and pregnant women. To prepare the tincture, you need to mix 100 grams of wormwood with a liter of vodka and leave the mixture for three weeks. The drug is taken on an empty stomach in five drops.
Rosehip tea. To prepare this product, you just need to pour 1 tablespoon of berries with a glass of boiling water and leave to infuse for 8 hours. The resulting daily portion should be divided into three doses.
Before resorting to treatment with folk remedies, it is not superfluous to consult a doctor in order to avoid unpleasant consequences. , . , .
Prevention
, , . :
- , .
- .
- .
- Stop smoking and alcohol.
- .
- Avoid working in hazardous industries.
These simple rules can avoid not only anemia, but also many other pathologies and diseases. If you still find any abnormalities in your body, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible. Remember that any disease is much easier to cure at the initial stage.