How to Overcome Anemia and what are the causes
Anemia is indeed the most common disease. Anemia itself means the condition of the body that lacks red blood cells (hemoglobin) red blood cells to deliver oxygen supply to all parts of the body. Because the supply is reduced, the body is easily tired, tired and lethargic.
What causes anemia, symptoms of anemia, and how to deal with it? Consider the discussion below.
What causes anemia, symptoms of anemia, and how to deal with it? Consider the discussion below.
Causes of Anemia
Someone is said to suffer from anemia because the number of red blood cells is below normal. The content of red blood cells in the body is different for each person, it depends on age, sex, place of residence, smoking habits, and pregnancy status. Then what causes anemia, the following factors:
- Lack of nutritional intake of red blood cells. This cell is formed by iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, and vitamin C.
- Great bleeding. This can occur due to accidents, labor or rupture of blood vessels.
- Spinal cord problems. One example is aplastic anemia, a condition that makes the spinal cord unable to meet the normal amount of red blood cell production. Aplastic anemia can be caused by viral infection, exposure to chemicals, radiation, antibiotics, anticonvulsant drugs or in cancer treatment.
- The number of red blood cells is destroyed. The age of red blood cells should be 120 days, but for some reason, red blood cells are destroyed faster. This condition is called hemolytic anemia. The cause can be thalassemia, G6PD deficiency (generally normal blood cells have a donut-like shape. The form of sickle-like blood cells is difficult to pass through blood vessels) and sickle cell anemia (red blood cell forms are usually donut-like. Because it is difficult to pass through blood vessels , especially narrowed blood vessels).
- Certain conditions. Certain conditions cause an individual to experience anemia, such as the condition of pregnant women, kidney failure, parasitic infections, and leukemia. Pregnant women need more iron and kidney failure causes a reduction in the components that form red blood cells, namely erythropoietin. Parasitic infections, such as the presence of hookworms in the body that absorb blood. Leukemia (blood cancer) which can cause bleeding easily. In addition, there are certain conditions that cause red blood cells to decrease or disappear.
The following signs or symptoms of anemia in the body:
- Get tired quickly. This is due to the lack of oxygen intake due to the low number of red blood cells, so the body easily feels tired.
- Pale eyelids. One easy way to detect the lack of red blood cells is to pay attention to the lower eyelids if pale means there is a possibility of anemia.
- Fast or irregular heartbeat. This is due to the lack of oxygen flowing in the body.
- Hard to breathe. Easy gasping while doing daily activities.
- Nausea. When you wake up, anemia sufferers often feel nauseous.
- Decreased immunity. The function of body organs is not maximized due to lack of oxygen. As a result the body's resistance decreases.
- Hair loss, pale face, headache, pale fingertips, pain in cold chest, hands and feet, also include symptoms of anemia.
- Perform a blood test to determine whether you have anemia or not.
How to Overcome Anemia
Preventing diseases early on can reduce the risk of complications in the future. So even with anemia, if it is prevented early it will be easily cured. Here are a number of prevention of anemia.
Expand foods that contain iron, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and folic acid. These substances are widely found in meat, beans, green vegetables, oranges, bananas, cereals, milk, melons and berries.
- Avoid drinking coffee, tea, or milk after eating because it can interfere with the process of iron absorption in the body.
- Blood transfusion. Additional blood as needed will quickly restore the number of red blood cells under normal conditions. However, after normal, the patient should keep it stable.
- Take supplements. Choose supplements that contain iron and other complete vitamins to support the formation of red blood cells. But don't rely on supplements. The content of substances in supplements is usually greater than what the body needs, which causes the kidneys to gain weight. So if the symptoms of anemia have disappeared, do a good lifestyle so that maternal and child health is maintained and anemia does not recur.