What Causes Anemia in Children and Its Treatment
What Causes Anemia in Children and Its Treatment
Hemolysis is a condition in which a breakdown of the red blood corpuscles takes place. People suffering from hemolysis will be anemic. Such anemia is called as aplastic anemia.
Mainly an inherited condition, sickle cell anemia is a condition where the haemoglobin in the blood is produced in such a way that the cells tend to stick together forming rod like shapes. These have difficulty in travelling through narrow blood veins and can consequently cause blockages.
This can result in pain and feelings of tiredness, as there is insufficient oxygen being carried to all parts of the body. Left untreated, major organs can be seriously affected.
Symptoms of Anemia
Anemia goes undetected in many people, and symptoms can be vague. Most commonly, people with anemia report a feeling of weakness or fatigue, general malaise and sometimes a poor concentration. People with more severe anemia often report dyspnea (shortness of breath) on exertion. Very severe anemia prompts the body to compensate by increasing cardiac output, leading to palpitations and sweatiness, and to heart failure. Other useful signs are cheilosis and koilonychia.
Causes
The dysfunctions in the process of erythrocyte differentiation and proliferation occur when areas of bone marrow have been compromised by damage to the local innervation and vascularization or when there are disorders at two or several "thesaurus" organs. At the same time, repeated or very serious damages to the same osseous area may cause degradation of the bone marrow or of the full organs' functions.
Types of anemia
- Iron deficiency anemia: It is the most common types of anemia. Iron is required for the formation of hemoglobin, when there is less iron in the body it causes iron deficiency anemia.
- Aplastic anemia: When body stops making enough red blood cells and chances of infections increases.
- Vitamin deficiency anemia: This is also termed as megaloblastic anemia. This is caused due to the deficiency of folic acid or vitamin B12.
What are the Symptoms of Anemia?
- There are many ways in which anemia can be observable from the outside. The following are some of the most common symptoms of anemia:-
- People with anemia will have a pale appearance of skin due to the loss of blood. There will be discoloration of the nails and the lips.
- Anemic people are not able to work for long hours. Fatigue is very common.
- There will be restless and breathlessness occasionally.
Treatments for Anemia
A healthy diet, rich in iron, must be consumed. Whole grain cereals, legumes and pulses are good sources of iron. Nuts and dry dates also contain iron. Among the meats, organs such as kidney and liver contain iron in them.
Anemia that is caused due to deficiency of vitamins can be avoided by a proper intake of vitamins in the diet. The food must be properly balanced and contain the proper amount of nutrients. Consult a diet chart for better guidance.
In order to prevent anemia conditions that are linked with pregnancy, women can take multivitamin pills and other nutritional supplements at the advice of the doctor.
Anemia caused by vitamin deficiency can be aggravated by smoking. Smoking interferes in the proper absorption of several vitamins in the body. Hence these vitamins - especially foliate and vitamin C which are water soluble - are flushed out of the body without getting assimilated. Tiger Woods's Childhood Story PhunZone – Why Age-Appropriate Toys are Important The Presence of Parents is a Present to Children How to Get Help for Overweight Kids through Child Psychology Crib to Big Kid Bed - Easing the Transition Questions about Kids' Birthday Parties and Answers Exciting camp activities for Kids Toronto Make your child's 7th birthday – party one of the greatest Tabletop Water Fountains Give Your Children a Peaceful Night Movies For Kids - Lots of Cool Fun For Summer 2009 How to Keep Children Safe Online at Facebook Statistics on Child Abuse - The Statistics and People You Need to Know For Your Healing Parent, Teen Communication - Stop Pushing Each Other's Buttons