Assalamualaikum and Hi!
We are moving on to the last topic, treating anemia. The goal of treatment is to increase the amount of oxygen that your blood can carry. This is done by raising the red blood cell count and/or hemoglobin level. Another goal is to treat the underlying cause of the anemia.
Dietary Changes and Supplements
Low levels of vitamins or iron in the body can cause some types of anemia. These low levels might be the result of a poor diet or certain diseases or conditions.
To raise your vitamin or iron level, your doctor may ask you to change your diet or take vitamin or iron supplements. Common vitamin supplements are vitamin B12 and folic acid (folate). Vitamin C sometimes is given to help the body absorb iron.Iron
Your body needs iron to make hemoglobin. Your body can more easily absorb iron from meats than from vegetables or other foods. To treat your anemia, your doctor may suggest eating more meat—especially red meat (such as beef or liver), as well as chicken, turkey, pork, fish, and shellfish.
Nonmeat foods that are good sources of iron include:
- Spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables
- Peas; lentils; white, red, and baked beans; soybeans; and chickpeas
- Dried fruits, such as prunes, raisins, and apricots
- Iron-fortified cereals and breads
You can look at the Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods to find out how much iron the items contain. The amount is given as a percentage of the total amount of iron you need every day. Iron also is available as a supplement. It's usually combined with multivitamins and other minerals that help your body absorb iron.
Large amounts of iron can be harmful, so take iron supplements only as your doctor prescribes.
Medicines
Your doctor may prescribe medicines to help your body make more red blood cells or to treat an underlying cause of anemia. Some of these medicines include:
- Antibiotics to treat infections.
- Hormones to treat heavy menstrual bleeding in teenaged and adult women.
- A man-made version of erythropoietin to stimulate your body to make more red blood cells. This hormone has some risks. You and your doctor will decide whether the benefits of this treatment outweigh the risks.
- Medicines to prevent the body's immune system from destroying its own red blood cells.
- Chelation (ke-LAY-shun) therapy for lead poisoning. Chelation therapy is used mainly in children. This is because children who have iron-deficiency anemia are at increased risk of lead poisoning.
If your anemia is severe, your doctor may recommend a medical procedure. Procedures include blood transfusions and blood and marrow stem cell transplants.
Blood Transfusion
A blood transfusion is a safe, common procedure in which blood is given to you through an intravenous (IV) line in one of your blood vessels. Transfusions require careful matching of donated blood with the recipient's blood.
Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant
A blood and marrow stem cell transplant replaces your faulty stem cells with healthy ones from another person (a donor). Stem cells are made in the bone marrow. They develop into red and white blood cells and platelets.
During the transplant, which is like a blood transfusion, you get donated stem cells through a tube placed in a vein in your chest. Once the stem cells are in your body, they travel to your bone marrow and begin making new blood cells.
Surgery
If you have serious or life-threatening bleeding that's causing anemia, you may need surgery. For example, you may need surgery to control ongoing bleeding due to a stomach ulcer or colon cancer.
If your body is destroying red blood cells at a high rate, you may need to have your spleen removed. The spleen is an organ that removes wornout red blood cells from the body. An enlarged or diseased spleen may remove more red blood cells than normal, causing anemia.
Assalamualaikum and Hi!
Previously we had talk about the sign and symptoms of anemia. By this point, some of you may have already check with your local clinics and hospital to further confirm the symptoms that you're having.
However, we know that some of us have this fear of going to clinics and hospital. So in today blogpost we are going to brief you on the procedure of diagnosis.
1. Medical and Family Histories
Your doctor may ask whether you have any of the common sign and symptoms of anemia. He or she also may ask whether you've had an illness or condition that could cause anemia.
Let your doctor know about any medicines you take, what you typically eat (your diet), and whether you have family members who have anemia or a history of it.
2. Physical Exam
Your doctor will do a physical exam to find out how severe your anemia is and to check for possible causes. He or she may:
- Listen to your heart for a rapid or irregular heartbeat
- Listen to your lungs for rapid or uneven breathing
- Feel your abdomen to check the size of your liver and spleen
3. Diagnostic Tests and Procedures
You may have various blood tests and other tests or procedures to find out what type of anemia you have and how severe it is.
Complete Blood Count
Often, the first test used to diagnose anemia is a complete blood count (CBC). The CBC measures many parts of your blood.
The test checks your hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Hemoglobin is the iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to the body. Hematocrit is a measure of how much space red blood cells take up in your blood. A low level of hemoglobin or hematocrit is a sign of anemia.
The CBC also checks the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in your blood. Abnormal results might be a sign of anemia, another blood disorder, an infection, or another condition.
Finally, the CBC looks at mean corpuscular (kor-PUS-kyu-lar) volume (MCV). MCV is a measure of the average size of your red blood cells and a clue as to the cause of your anemia.
Other Tests and Procedures
If the CBC results show that you have anemia, you may need other tests, such as:
- Hemoglobin electrophoresis. This test looks at the different types of hemoglobin in your blood. The test can help diagnose the type of anemia you have.
- A reticulocyte count. This test measures the number of young red blood cells in your blood. The test shows whether your bone marrow is making red blood cells at the correct rate.
- Tests for the level of iron in your blood and body. These tests include serum iron and serum ferritin tests. Transferrin level and total iron-binding capacity tests also measure iron levels.
Because anemia has many causes, you also might be tested for conditions such as kidney failure, lead poisoning (in children), and vitamin deficiencies (lack of vitamins, such as B12 and folic acid).
If your doctor thinks that you have anemia due to internal bleeding, he or she may suggest several tests to look for the source of the bleeding. A test to check the stool for blood might be done in your doctor's office or at home. Your doctor can give you a kit to help you get a sample at home. He or she will tell you to bring the sample back to the office or send it to a laboratory.
If blood is found in the stool, you may have other tests to find the source of the bleeding. One such test is endoscopy. For this test, a tube with a tiny camera is used to view the lining of the digestive tract.
Your doctor also may want to do bone marrow tests. These tests show whether your bone marrow is healthy and making enough blood cells.
We hope that you have enough information on getting yourself cure! On next post, we will talk about what kind of treatments will you receive.
HZ
