5 Silent Symptoms of Anemia
1. What is anemia?
Anemia is when our bodies do not have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Anemia comes in many forms, which manifest themselves in a large number of symptoms. Some people, such as those with sickle cell anemia or thalassemia, are born anemic. The difficulty their bodies have in producing red blood cells or specific parts of red blood cells is genetic and hereditary. But the majority of North Americans who have anemia (about 1 to 2% of men and 2 to 5% of women) suffer from it because they do not consume enough iron or vitamin B12. These are two elements that, along with folate, are essential for the production of healthy red blood cells.
2. You are often out of breath or dizzy
When iron or vitamin B12 is lacking, the body is unable to produce enough hemoglobin, a protein essential for the proper functioning of red blood cells. Hemoglobin is so rich in iron that it gives blood its red colour. It allows oxygen to bind to cells and thus irrigate the entire blood stream through the body. When the body lacks iron or vitamin B12 to produce enough hemoglobin, some parts of the body do not get all the oxygen they need. As a result, we run out of breath easily and our brains sometimes lack so much oxygen that we experience dizziness or dizziness.
3. You feel siiiiiii tired
Andrew Artz, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, says one of the most common (and most important) symptoms of anemia is a general sense of exhaustion. "Fatigue is the predominant symptom," says Dr. Artz. This is a difficult symptom to identify because each person perceives fatigue differently. Some will just feel more tired, others will feel it when they are physically active." Fatigue is caused by the same phenomenon that leads to shortness of breath and dizziness: deficiency of iron or vitamin B12 leads to a scarcity of hemoglobin and therefore a lack of oxygen to supply the body.
4. You have a paler complexion
If you lack healthy red blood cells to supply your organs with oxygen, the larger of your organs - your skin - will inevitably feel the effects. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a deficiency of iron and vitamin B12 could affect your skin's irrigation and make it look lighter, even waxy.
5. You have pain in your chest
When you run out of red blood cells, your heart needs to work harder to circulate them through the body. As a result, the heart beats faster than normal and you may begin to experience chest pain. Do not overlook this pain, especially if you have other heart problems. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports that by working too hard, your heart can start beating irregularly, and you can also develop a breath in your heart, an enlarged heart muscle or even heart failure.
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