Anemia which means the lack of blood in Greek, is without a doubt a common dangerous disease. While many people associate the disease with lack of nutrition or eating less food than what you normally would, by any means it is so. The real reason of which anemia occurs is because of the drop in hemoglobin quantity in the blood, or the decrease in the number of red blood cells. As it is well known the blood consists of red blood cells, white blood cells and water (of course that is just an overview of the composition of blood).
There are many types of anemia, over 400 some may claim. However, there are few of which are commonly known: Deficiency in Iron, Deficiency in Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 Anemia.
The diagnosis to determine whether or not the person before you is suffering from anemia symptoms is quite easy. However, to determine which type it is, might be a little tricky. Thankfully each type has a few symptoms aside from the common ones to distinguish between them.
To determine anemia symptoms, the doctor you are seeing will require you to do a few tests such as Complete Blood Count (CDC), Vitamin B-12 levels, some special blood tests and finally for caution special blood cells test to detect hemolytic.
Nonetheless it hurts no one to be aware of the anemia symptoms; whenever you notice such symptoms it is always advised to consult the nearest doctor. The most common anemia symptoms known are:
- Fatigue, you will notice that the person suffering from anemia tires quickly. He loses energy quite easily doing low effort tasks. However, fatigue is a relative case, so you might want to first verify if the person you are diagnosing is in fact suffering fatigue or is that the limit of his strength.
- During exercise and heavy effort based activities (running, jogging, fast walking, climbing the stairs, jumping, etc…) you will notice that the subject suffers from fast heart beats. Not only that but you will see the symptom coupled with short breath and extreme exhaling.
- While it may seem normal or something mundane, losing concentration is one of the primary anemia symptoms. If the case is persisting, you might want to verify the rest of the symptoms and in retrospect consult the local doctor.
- One of the primary aspects of detecting anemia symptoms and particularly easy one to spot is dizziness. Subjects that suffer dizziness, specially after an exercise or an activity that requires concentration.
- Insomnia is an irritating symptom but can be noticed immediately; if your subject is suffering from insomnia this might be a positive anemia match.
- Finally pale skin. The subject’s skin will look paler than normal; you can easily verify this by placing your hand next to the subjects hand and looking for the difference.
Nonetheless, the above anemia symptoms are only the common ones, as said before, each type have extra symptoms that verifies it. For instance if the subject is suffering from Vitamin B-12 deficiency then you will find the patient experiencing a sharp pain through the limbs; he might describe the pain as “sharp needles poking through his hands and legs”. Not only that but Dementia and hallucinations (mild ones and not severe) as well as stiffness in both limbs (arms and legs) are two other to watch for.
There are many more anemia symptoms each corresponding to the type it belongs to, however this is beyond the scope of this article. Nevertheless, the information you have now should be more than enough for you to diagnose anemia symptoms and spot the disorder right away. So, if you do, make sure you reach the nearest doctor and ensure the safety of your subject.