Anemia: Pay Attention to Your Red Blood Cell Count

Overview

Anemia is such a health condition, which is prevalent in all over the world and occurs across all age, ethnic group, and race. It can be seen in both men and women. Let’s know what is this disease and what are the causes and types of it?

What is Anemia?

It is a condition in which red blood cell number goes down in our blood. This condition may take place if the hemoglobin level of our blood goes down. Hemoglobin is nothing but the iron-rich protein, which maintains the red color of the blood. Hemoglobin is responsible for oxygen to go from the lungs to the other parts of the body.

Causes of Anemia

Largely, they are three main causes of anaemia –

Insufficiency in red blood cell production- It can be both hereditary or acquired. Acquired conditions take place due to:

• Hormonal imbalance– When the level of erythropoietin hormone goes down, then it causes this problem as this hormone is responsible to produce red blood cells.
• Lack of proper diet – When our diet lacks vitamin B12, iron or folic acid, it makes our body incapacitated of absorbing nutrients, which can also be the reason for low red blood cell production
• Chronic disease– Kidney disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, inflammatory diseases, and HIV/AIDS can cause less production of red blood cells.
• Pregnancy– During pregnancy, if women are not taking a multivitamin with folic acid, then it can cause the lack of red blood cells.

 
Blood loss– In a woman, due to over blood loss during menstruation can cause anaemia.

Other causes for blood loss can be:

• accidents
• excessive uterine bleeding
• endometriosis
• gastrointestinal lesions
• childbirth
• surgery

 
Increased rate of red blood cell destruction-Bone marrow found in the center of the bones is responsible for red blood cell creation. Due to different diseases, say, for example, leukemia can affect the bone marrow, which in turn will be responsible for producing excessive white blood cells and causing disruption of red blood cell production.

Types of Anemia and their symptoms

 
Sickle cell anemia

This kind of anemia is found to be hereditary. Because of this genetic disorder, the shape of the red blood cells becomes crescent-shaped. Since red blood cells break down easily, it stops supplying oxygen to the body’s organ, causing anaemia. These crescent-shaped blood cells get clung to tiny blood vessels due to which patient feels pain.

Symptoms

Symptoms of this disease include:

• abnormal breakdown of red blood cells
• joint pain
• inflamed fingers or toes
• chest pain
• fatigue
• dizziness
• shortness of breath
• blood in urine or dilute urine

 
Hemolytic anemia

Rupture of red blood cells caused due to antibodies hanging on to the surface of the red blood cells is the reason for this disease.

Types

Few types of hemolytic anemia are:

• autoimmune hemolytic anemia
• medication induced hemolytic anemia
• hemolytic disease of the newborn
• transfusion-related hemolysis

Symptoms

Symptoms of this disease include:

• increased heart rate
• dark urine
• enlarged liver
• jaundice
• enlarged spleen

 
Aplastic anemia

When our body stops producing enough red blood cells, then this condition is known as Aplastic Anemia.

Symptoms

Major symptoms of this anemia involve:

• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Frequent or prolonged infections
• Nosebleeds and bleeding gums
• Shortness of breath with exertion
• Rapid or irregular heart rate
• Headache
• Pale skin
• Skin rash
• Prolonged bleeding from cuts

 
Pernicious anemia

It is a Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, in which quantity of red blood cell becomes less. Due to its deadly effect on our health, it is named as ‘pernicious’.

Symptoms

Symptoms of this disease include:

• weight loss
• headaches
• chest pain
• weakness

Usually, these symptoms are ignored because they are quite common.

Other Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms include:

• depression
• confusion
• constipation
• nausea and vomiting
• loss of appetite
• heartburn

 
Megaloblastic anemia

This kind of anemia is caused due to the less production of red blood cells. Due to the inhibition of DNA synthesis at the time of red blood cell production, this kind of disease takes place. The main reason for this disease is the deficiency of Vitamin B12 and Folate as they are responsible for red blood cell production.

Symptoms

Common symptoms for this disease include:

• tingling in hands and feet
• fast heartbeat
• loss of appetite/weight loss
• nausea
• diarrhea
• muscle weakness
• glossitis (swollen tongue)
• smooth or tender tongue
• shortness of breath
• numbness in extremities

 
Macrocytic anemia

When in our body red blood cells become larger in size than normal, then it is termed as macrocytic anemia. Due to the deficiency of Vitamin B12 and Folate, this kind of anemia occurs.

Symptoms

Main symptoms of anemia include:

• poor concentration or confusion
• memory problem
• fatigue
• fast heartbeat
• shortness of breath
• loss of appetite or weight
• brittle nails
• diarrhea
• pale skin, including lips and eyelids

 
Microcytic anemia

It is just opposite of macrocytic anemia, where the size of red blood cells becomes smaller than normal. Iron deficiency is the main reason for this health issue.

Symptoms

Main symptoms of this disease include:

• loss of stamina
• fatigue
• weakness
• dizziness
• shortness of breath
• pale skin

 
Fanconi anemia

In this kind of genetic disorder, bone marrow stops producing new blood cells in our body. This anemia can be diagnosed even at the time of birth.

Symptoms

Fanconi anemia problems involve:

• Non-stop nosebleeds
• Sudden fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Lack of body growth
• Blood in the stool or urine
• Recurrent colds or viral infections

Who are at higher risk of Anemia?

There are different factors affecting this disease, such as age, gender, past health record, heredity, and geography etc.

• Age and gender being one of the risk factors; thus, women and children are likely to be more affected by iron-deficiency anemia.
• People with certain diseases, such as IBS, ulcers, and Crohn’s disease are more at risk.
• People above 65 are more prone to this disease.
• People taking pain-killers frequently can develop this disease easily.

Complications related to Anemia

Further complications related to this disease are:

• Worsening of heart problems
• Hair loss
• Malaise (general sense of feeling unwell)

How to Prevent Anemia?

If you want this disease to stay away from you, then you should follow a few below-mentioned steps:

How to identify this Disease?

This disease is detected with the help of Complete Blood Cell (CBC) count. There are six significant components, which are used to measure CBC count:

• Hemoglobin
• Hematocrit
• White blood cell (WBC) count
• Red blood cell (RBC) count
• Platelet count
• Differential blood count

Natural Treatment for this Disease

It is always advisable to treat any disease by natural treatment, instead of treating it with over-the-counter medicines. Natural ways of treatment ensure healing by destroying the main cause and, they are free from side effects.

Home Remedies

 
Blackstrap Molasses

This sweet by-product is rich in Vitamin B6, Selenium, Magnesium, and Calcium. It is produced from sugarcane.

• Mix one tablespoon of blackstrap molasses to a glass of warm water
• Drink this mixture on regular basis to see improvement in your red blood count

 
Drumstick Leaves

These leaves are rich in vitamins A and C, magnesium, iron, and calcium.

• Chop the drumstick leaves
• Blend these leaves in a blender
• Strain the juice
• Add honey to this juice, stir well before drinking

Dietary tips

Few changes in diet and inclusion of few foods in your diet list can improve the anemic condition. You should incorporate foods:

Lifestyle tips

Different lifestyle hacks can eliminate this disease. Let us see what they are:

• Avoid tobacco products
• Try to lead a stress-free life
• Take a break from boring work life
• Take an adequate amount of sleep

Suggested Exercise/ Yoga

Due to this disease, rigorous exercise becomes more challenging as red blood cells do not send oxygen to the rest of the body. Thus, you can go for slow exercises.

Otherwise, few yoga poses are beneficial for treating this disease:

• Trikonasana
• Paschomittanasana
• Sarvangasana
• Yoga-Mudra
• Viparita-karani

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How Unani Can Help

In short, many symptoms can be overlooked as they seem very common at times. But, if it is not treated on time, then it can turn into severe and life-threatening disease. Thus, it is advisable to get it treated immediately once signs of anemia are noticed.
For a further solution, we suggest Hakeem Suleman Khan’s Majoon Akhrot Prash– one trusted herbal solution to eradicate anemia problem from the root.

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