Find Anemia Specialists near you

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

FAQs:

What is Anemia?

Anemia is a problem of not having enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the body's tissues. Hemoglobin is a protein found in red cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all other organs in the body. Having anemia can cause tiredness, weakness and shortness of breath. There are many forms of anemia. Each has its own cause. Anemia can be short term or long term. It can range from mild to severe. Anemia can be a warning sign of serious illness.

How Does Anemia Make You Feel?

If you have anemia, your body does not get enough oxygen-rich blood. The lack of oxygen can make you feel tired or weak. You may also have shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, or an irregular heartbeat.

What is Sickle Cell Anemia?

Sickle cell anemia is a form of the inherited blood disorder, sickle cell disease. Sickle cell anemia affects your red blood cells, turning them from round flexible discs into stiff and sticky sickled cells. Sickled cells keep red blood cells from doing their job, which is carrying oxygen throughout your body. Sickled cells also don’t live as long as normal red blood cells. As a result, you don’t have enough healthy red blood cells and you develop anemia, the condition that gives sickle cell anemia its name.

What is Pernicious Anemia?

Pernicious anemia is one of the causes of vitamin B12 deficiency, is an autoimmune condition that prevents your body from absorbing vitamin B12. Without adequate vitamin B12, you have fewer red blood cells carrying oxygen throughout your body. You can have pernicious anemia for several years before noticing changes in your body. Left untreated, pernicious anemia can cause serious medical issues, including irreversible damage to your nervous system. Healthcare providers treat pernicious anemia by prescribing vitamin B12 supplements.

What is Aplastic Anemia?

Aplastic anemia is a rare but serious blood condition that occurs when your bone marrow cannot make enough new blood cells for your body to work normally. It can develop quickly or slowly, and it can be mild or serious. At this time, there is no way to prevent aplastic anemia.

Is Anemia Genetic?

Most forms of anemia are not due to your genetics, but several different types of anemia can be inherited. In most cases, anemia related to your genetics is diagnosed at birth or identified at a young age due to the relatively severe impact it can have on your body.

Can Anemia Turn Into Leukemia?

Anemia and leukemia are both conditions that affect the blood. There is no evidence that anemia can cause leukemia. However, people with leukemia are more likely to develop anemia.

This could be because leukemia, a form of blood cancer, causes anemia, which involves a reduction in red blood cells. Moreover, some leukemia treatments also cause anemia.

What is Iron Deficiency Anemia?

Iron deficiency anemia is a common type of anemia — a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's tissues. As the name implies, iron deficiency anemia is due to insufficient iron. Without enough iron, your body can't produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (hemoglobin). As a result, iron deficiency anemia may leave you tired and short of breath. You can usually correct iron deficiency anemia with iron supplementation. Sometimes additional tests or treatments for iron deficiency anemia are necessary, especially if your doctor suspects that you're bleeding internally.

Can Anemia Be Cured?

Yes, anemia can be easily cured. It is usually a short-term issue that can be treated with a change in diet or by taking supplements. It is uncommon to need other interventions to treat anemia, but it is possible.

What is Hemolytic Anemia?

Hemolytic anemia is a disorder in which red blood cells are destroyed faster than they can be made. The destruction of red blood cells is called hemolysis. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body. If you have a lower than normal amount of red blood cells, you have anemia. When you have anemia, your blood can’t bring enough oxygen to all your tissues and organs. Without enough oxygen, your body can’t work as well as it should.

Hemolytic anemia can be inherited or acquired:

1. Inherited hemolytic anemia happens when parents pass the gene for the condition on to their children.

2. Acquired hemolytic anemia is not something you are born with. You develop the condition later.

How Anemia Affects the Body

When someone develops anemia, they’re said to be anemic, meaning they have symptoms of anemia, like being very tired or feeling cold all of the time. Anemia affects different people in different ways:

1. Newborns: Some infants are born with low red blood cell counts. Most newborns don’t need medical treatment for anemia, but some with severe anemia may need blood transfusions.

2. Infants: Infants may get less iron than they need when they start eating solid food. That’s because the iron in solid food isn’t absorbed as easily as iron in breast milk or formula. Infants with anemia may appear lethargic.

3. Children: Children do a lot of growing between birth and age 2. Children going through growth spurts need more iron. Children with anemia may develop related problems such as delayed development of motor skills and issues with learning.

4. Women who are pregnant: Women who are pregnant may develop iron-deficiency anemia, which may increase the chance of complications such as premature birth or giving birth to babies with low birth weight.

5. Women and people designated female at birth (DFAB): Women and people DFAB who have heavy periods (menstrual bleeding) or conditions like uterine fibroids may lose blood and develop anemia.

6. People age 65 and older: People over 65 are more likely to have iron-poor diets and certain chronic diseases that increase their risk of developing anemia. If they develop anemia, they may have heart conditions or weakness that makes it hard for them to get around. They may have confusion or depression.

7. People with chronic conditions: Some chronic conditions like autoimmune diseases or cancer may increase the risk of anemia. This is anemia of chronic disease.

Types of Anemia

There are many anemia types, each causing red blood cell levels to drop.

Nutritional Anemias

- Pernicious anemia: Pernicious anemia, one of the causes of vitamin B12 deficiency, is an autoimmune condition that prevents your body from absorbing vitamin B12.

- Iron-deficiency anemia: As its name implies, iron-deficiency anemia happens when your body doesn’t have enough iron to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the substance in your red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen throughout your body.

- Megaloblastic anemia: Megaloblastic anemia is a type of vitamin deficiency anemia that happens when you don’t get enough vitamin B12 and/or vitamin B9 (folate).

Inherited Anemias

- Sickle cell anemia: Sickle cell anemia changes your red blood cells’ shape, turning round flexible discs into stiff and sticky sickle cells that block blood flow.

- Fanconi anemia: Fanconi anemia is a rare blood disorder. Anemia is one sign of Fanconi anemia.

- Diamond-Blackfan anemia: This inherited disorder keeps your bone marrow from making enough red blood cells.

Anemias Caused by Abnormal Red Blood Cells

- Hemolytic anemia: In this anemia, your red blood cells break down or die faster than usual.

- Aplastic anemia: This anemia happens when stem cells in your bone marrow don’t make enough red blood cells.

- Autoimmune hemolytic anemia: In autoimmune hemolytic anemia, your immune system attacks your red blood cells.

- Sideroblastic anemia: In sideroblastic anemia, you don’t have enough red blood cells and you have too much iron in your system.

- Macrocytic anemia: This anemia happens when your bone marrow makes unusually large red blood cells.

- Microcytic anemia: This anemia happens when your red blood cells don’t have enough hemoglobin so they’re smaller than usual.

- Normocytic anemia: In this type of anemia, you have fewer red blood cells than usual, and those red blood cells don’t have the normal amount of hemoglobin.

Symptoms of Anemia

Anemia symptoms depend on the cause and how bad the anemia is. Anemia can be so mild that it causes no symptoms at first. But symptoms usually then occur and get worse as the anemia gets worse.

If another disease causes the anemia, the disease can mask the anemia symptoms. Then a test for another condition might find the anemia. Certain types of anemia have symptoms that point to the cause.

Possible symptoms of anemia include:

- Tiredness.

- Weakness.

- Shortness of breath.

- Pale or yellowish skin, which might be more obvious on white skin than on Black or brown skin.

- Irregular heartbeat.

- Dizziness or lightheadedness.

- Chest pain.

- Cold hands and feet.

- Headaches.

Causes of Anemia

Possible causes of anemia include:

- Iron deficiency

- Vitamin B12 deficiency

- Folate deficiency

- Certain medicines

- Destruction of red blood cells earlier than normal (which may be caused by immune system problems)

- Long-term (chronic) diseases such as chronic kidney disease, cancer, ulcerative colitis, or rheumatoid arthritis

- Some forms of anemia, such as thalassemia or sickle cell anemia, which can be inherited

- Pregnancy

- Problems with bone marrow such as lymphoma, leukemia, myelodysplasia, multiple myeloma, or aplastic anemia

- Slow blood loss (for example, from heavy menstrual periods or stomach ulcers)

- Sudden heavy blood loss

Duration of Anemia Depending on Type

The duration of anemia depends on the type.

Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Iron supplements (prescribed by your physician or hematologist) taken orally can work within 3 to 10 days to increase the body’s production of red blood cells; however, it typically takes months to bring iron levels back to normal. Additionally, if the source of the iron-deficiency anemia is an underlying condition, duration would depend on if and how that is addressed.

Aplastic Anemia

When aplastic anemia is caused by radiation, chemotherapy, and other drugs, the condition tends to subside once treatments stop. For women who develop aplastic anemia when pregnant, the condition usually improves once they’re no longer pregnant.

Sickle Cell Anemia

Having sickle cell anemia means having a lifelong condition because a blood and bone marrow transplant are the only cure, and a small percentage of people with the disease actually get the transplant.

Pernicious Anemia

While pernicious anemia is a lifelong condition, treatment can help people feel well and live normal lives. In most cases, early diagnosis and treatment can help reverse complications of pernicious anemia, such as nerve damage.

Anemia of Chronic Disease

When the underlying condition that is causing anemia of chronic disease is treated, the condition tends to go away.

Risk Factors of Anemia

These factors can increase risk of anemia:

- A diet that doesn't have enough of certain vitamins and minerals. Not getting enough iron, vitamin B-12 and folate increases the risk of anemia.

- Problems with the small intestine. Having a condition that affects how the small intestine takes in nutrients increases the risk of anemia. Examples are Crohn's disease and celiac disease.

- Menstrual periods. In general, having heavy periods can create a risk of anemia. Having periods causes the loss of red blood cells.

- Pregnancy. Pregnant people who don't take a multivitamin with folic acid and iron are at an increased risk of anemia.

- Ongoing, called chronic, conditions. Having cancer, kidney failure, diabetes or another chronic condition increases the risk of anemia of chronic disease. These conditions can lead to having too few red blood cells. Slow, chronic blood loss from an ulcer or other source within the body can use up the body's store of iron, leading to iron deficiency anemia.

- Family history. Having a family member with a type of anemia passed through families, called inherited, can increase the risk of inherited anemias, such as sickle cell anemia.

- Other factors. A history of certain infections, blood diseases and autoimmune conditions increases the risk of anemia. Drinking too much alcohol, being around toxic chemicals, and taking some medicines can affect the making of red blood cells and lead to anemia.

- Age. People over age 65 are at increased risk of anemia.

Complications of Anemia

If not treated, anemia can cause many health problems, such as:

1. Severe tiredness. Severe anemia can make it impossible to do everyday tasks.

2. Pregnancy complications. Pregnant people with folate deficiency anemia may be more likely to have complications, such as premature birth.

3. Heart problems. Anemia can lead to a rapid or irregular heartbeat, called arrhythmia. With anemia, the heart must pump more blood to make up for too little oxygen in the blood. This can lead to an enlarged heart or heart failure.

4. Death. Some inherited anemias, such as sickle cell anemia, can lead to life-threatening complications. Losing a lot of blood quickly causes severe anemia and can be fatal.

Foods to Eat to Fight Anemia

Most anemic patients are advised to take 150 to 200 milligrams of iron every day. Make sure to have these foods to fight anemia:

1. Fruits and Vegetables

- Curly kale and other varieties

- Collard greens

- Pomegranates

- Swiss chard

- Red and yellow peppers

- Watercress

- Spinach

- Dandelion greens

- Oranges

- Strawberries

- Lemon

- Key lime

- Sweet potatoes

- Beet greens

Dark leafy greens like spinach are a great source of non-heme iron. Vitamin C from citrus fruits helps the stomach to absorb iron. Swiss chard and Collard greens are good sources of both Vitamin C and iron.

2. Nuts and Seeds

- Cashews

- Hemp seeds

- Sunflower seeds

- Pumpkin seeds

- Pistachios

- Pine nuts

- Walnuts

- Peanuts

- Almonds

- Hazelnut

Nuts and seeds are some of the most nutrient-dense foods. One ounce of pistachios can provide 6.1% of the required daily value of iron in a person.

3. Meat and Fish

- Lamb

- Liver

- Oysters

- Salmon

- Perch

- Beef

- Venison

- Shellfish

- Shrimp

- Tuna

- Halibut

- Haddock

- Chicken

Meat and fish have heme iron. Lean cut white meat like chicken is a great source of heme protein. Three ounces of grilled chicken with sides of broccoli, sauteed spinach, and tomatoes can make for a great iron-rich meal for people suffering from anaemia.

4. Eggs

Eggs are known for their proteins, but they also pack a high level of iron. Eggs can be had paired with whole-grain toast, lightly roasted tomatoes, and quinoa for breakfast that will provide a great start to the day.

5. Beans and Pulses

- Chickpeas

- Black-eyed peas

- Black beans

- Lima beans

- Kidney beans

- Soybeans

Lentils are supposed to be a superfood for anaemic patients. Half a cup of lentils has about 3.3 milligrams of iron, which is around 20% of what your body needs throughout the day. Beans and pulses work for both vegetarians and meat-eaters and provide a good amount of iron.

6. Blackstrap Molasses

Blackstrap molasses are loaded with iron. They are a total nutritional powerhouse because of calcium, Vitamin B6, selenium, and magnesium. They are perfect for anaemic patients because apart from providing the iron they desperately need, blackstrap molasses also keep them healthy due to the presence of other integral nutrients.

7. Grains

Iron-fortified pasta, cereals, and grains are good options for getting the much-needed iron. However, there are natural options too. They are all rich in iron and can help in shooting up the haemoglobin level in blood.

- Quinoa

Oats

- Whole wheat

- Kamut

- Teff

8. Fortified Food

There are different types of food that are fortified with iron. You can add these to your diet if you are a vegetarian or cannot keep down other sources of iron.

- Fortified, ready-to-eat cereals

- Fortified pasta

- Fortified white rice

- Fortified orange juice

- Foods made from fortified white flour, like bread

- Foods made from fortified cornmeal

Foods to Avoid if You are Anemic

Some types of food interfere with the absorption of iron. As a result, having all that iron-rich food sometimes might prove to be redundant if had with these foods:

- Yoghurt

- Raw milk

- Cheese

- Sardines

- Broccoli

- Tofu

- Tea and coffee

- Food containing tannins like corn, grapes, sorghum

Treatments and Medication Options for Anemia

Each type of anemia will require a different type of treatment, which would depend on the specifics of your diagnosis and severity of your condition.

Medication Options and Other Treatment Examples

1. Growth factors, both naturally occurring and man-made, are hormones that stimulate bone marrow to make blood cells to treat aplastic anemia. Immunosuppressive drug therapy is another option.

2. Severe iron-deficiency anemia may require intravenous (IV) iron therapy, blood transfusion, or injections of the synthetic hormone erythropoietin, which is normally produced by the kidneys.

3. When successful, a bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant may cure sickle cell anemia.

4. B12 supplements or shots may help pernicious anemia.

5. Chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation may be needed for anemias associated with bone marrow disease.

6. Oxygen, pain relievers, and oral and intravenous fluids can help reduce pain and prevent complications in sickle cell anemia.

7. When low iron is caused by an inadequate diet lacking iron-rich foods, a focus on high-iron foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, beans, tofu, dried fruits, dark green leafy vegetables, and iron-fortified foods like breads and cereals, can help.

8. Eating or drinking foods and drinks high in vitamin C, such as orange juice, broccoli, peppers, and more, can help your body absorb iron when you eat it.

Prevention of Anemia

In some instances, iron-deficiency anemia can be prevented with the following methods:

1. Treating blood loss. For those with heavy menstrual periods or stomach issues, such as frequent diarrhea or blood in your stool, addressing the root imbalances leading to blood loss can help prevent anemia.

2. Consuming foods with iron. Eating foods with high levels of iron like lean meat, chicken, dark leafy vegetables, and beans can increase iron levels.

3. Ensuring enough vitamin C. Drinks and foods with vitamin C like orange juice, strawberries, and broccoli can help the body absorb iron.

4. A balanced diet. Balanced diets can ensure enough iron is being consumed.

5. Limiting coffee or tea with meals. If you drink coffee and tea with meals, they can make it difficult for your body to absorb iron.

6. Caution with calcium pills. Because calcium can affect how your body absorbs iron, ask your doctor what the best approach is for getting both enough calcium and enough iron.

7. While there’s no known prevention for aplastic anemia, staying clear of insecticides, herbicides, organic solvents, paint removers, and other toxic chemicals may lower your risk.

While pernicious anemia caused by a lack of intrinsic factor is not preventable, those who develop the disease because they lack B12 in their diet can potentially reduce the impact by eating foods high in B12, such as beef, eggs, fortified cereal, and more. But, ultimately, they are likely to need high-dose B12 supplementation or injections under their doctors’ guidance.

How to Prepare for a Doctor Appointment

Make an appointment with your primary care provider if you have long-lasting fatigue or other symptoms that worry you. You might end up seeing a doctor who specializes in treating blood disorders, called a hematologist; the heart, called a cardiologist; or the digestive system, called a gastroenterologist.

Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment.

What You Can Do

Before your appointment, make a list of:

- Your symptoms and when they began.

- Key personal information, including major stresses, medical devices you have in your body, toxins or chemicals you've been around, and recent life changes.

- All medicines, vitamins and other supplements you take, including the doses.

- Questions to ask your health care provider.

For anemia, basic questions to ask include:

- What's the most likely cause of my symptoms?

- Are there other possible causes?

- What tests do I need?

- Is my anemia likely short term or long lasting?

- What treatments are there, and which do you recommend?

- What side effects can I expect from treatment?

- I have other health conditions. How can I best manage them together?

- Do I need to change my diet?

- Do you have brochures or other printed materials I can have? What websites do you recommend?

Sources:

Mayo Clinic

Cleveland Clinic

Mount Sinai

NIH

Healthline

Medical News Today

Everyday Health

WebMD

Johns Hopkins

Pharm Easy

 

The content herein is provided for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Medical information changes constantly, and therefore the content on this website should not be assumed to be current, complete or exhaustive. Always seek the advice of your doctor before starting or changing treatment. If you think you may have a medical emergency, please call your doctor or 9-1-1 (in the United States) immediately.