What is Anemia: Reporting Symptoms and Finding a Cause
Are you feeling tired and run down? Has your doctor told you that you have anemia? If so, you may be wondering what this means and what you’ll need to do next
What is Anemia: Reporting Symptoms and Finding a Cause
Are you feeling tired and run down? Has your doctor told you that you have anemia? If so, you may be wondering what this means and what you’ll need to do next.
The answer is, it’s different depending on what may be causing you to feel tired, run down, or to be anemic. For many people, correcting anemia may be as simple as getting more iron either through their diet or by taking an iron supplement. If you have an illness like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease or a gastrointestinal condition, you may be more susceptible to having anemia and your doctor may already be monitoring you for it. Solutions here will vary too. For some patients, anemia may be the first sign of a serious condition which their doctor has yet to diagnose. No matter what category fits you best, the first step is talking to your doctor or healthcare professional about your symptoms.
To help you recognize anemia before it becomes a serious burden, read this article to learn about the various symptoms you might experience, how to talk about these symptoms with your doctor, and review some of the steps your doctor may follow to determine if your symptoms are related to anemia.
- Pale skin
- Brittle nails
- Chest pain
- Coldness of hands or feet
- Trouble breathing
- Fast or irregular heartbeat
- Fuzzy thinking
- Loss of concentration
- Loss of sex drive
- Decreased work performance
- Desire to eat ice or other peculiar things
How Does it Feel to Have Anemia?
People with anemia often feel tired or fatigued. Under normal circumstances you may feel tired after working long hours or strenuously exercising. With anemia, your body may be just as tired following moderate exercise or activities which you didn’t expect would wear you out. Some people may believe these feelings are just the cost for living a busy life or getting older, but sometimes it can be the first indication you have anemia.
With anemia you might notice that you often feel weak, dizzy, irritable, short of breath or depressed. You may also have pale skin, brittle nails, chest pain, a coldness in your hands or feet, or an irregular heartbeat. Some people with anemia may also have a desire to eat ice or other peculiar things, experience sexual dysfunction, or have trouble concentrating or performing mental tasks. These are all symptoms which might indicate you have anemia.
It is important to discuss any of these symptoms of anemia with your doctor. In doing so, be as detailed as you can about what made you feel tired or fatigued and when these problems started to occur. To help you tell your doctor about your symptoms which could be related to anemia, see the anemia Symptoms Quiz for you to fill out and take to your doctor.
Anemia Without the Symptoms
If you have mild or moderate anemia, you may not experience symptoms. Initially, the symptoms may be so faint you may not notice them or you may have slowly gotten used to them as your anemia became worse. This can happen because the body will actually adapt to anemia over time. With anemia, a person’s blood is not able to deliver as much oxygen throughout the body. The heart can then compensate for the blood’s poor oxygen delivery by pumping faster so that muscles and organs receive the oxygen they need to work and exercise properly. This overworking of a person’s heart can make any heart troubles they may have worse or can even lead to a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy.1
As anemia gets worse though, more symptoms usually become noticeable and can potentially keep you from completing your regular routine. This is why it is extremely important to keep track of any symptoms which may be caused by anemia and tell your doctor about them. With help from your doctor, you can find out if these symptoms are related to anemia.
and Hematocrit Values
|Age/Sex (yrs)||Hemoglobin (g/dL)||Hematocrit (%)|
|Adult Men||< 13.0||< 39|
|Non-pregnant Women||< 12.0||< 36|
|Pregnant Women||< 11.0||< 33|
What Happens to My Body When I’m Anemic?
The red blood cells in your blood deliver oxygen where it is needed. They pick up oxygen from your lungs and move it throughout your body so that your muscles and organs can work properly. Unfortunately, a low amount of healthy red blood cells can mean your body isn’t receiving enough oxygen and can make you feel tired. If your level of red blood cells is lower than expected, you are considered to have anemia.
The amount of red blood cells in your body is often measured as hemoglobin and hematocrit level. You may have learned your hemoglobin or hematocrit level when you went to donate blood before a medical procedure or from a routine doctor’s visit. A doctor can determine your current hemoglobin and hematocrit levels by performing a routine blood test called a complete blood count (CBC) test. Performin