Symptoms
Since there are many different types of anemia, symptoms can vary greatly depending on what type of anemia the patient has. However, there are six common symptoms of anemia as a whole:
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Symptoms for specific types of anemia are discussed in the page for that particular type:
Effects on Body Systems
Since anemia is a problem with the blood, and blood is responsible for carrying the needed materials (particularly oxygen) to all cells, essentially every single cell in the human body is affected by anemia. Here are some effects anemia can have on various body systems:
- Circulatory: anemia is a circulatory disease. Aside from fundamentally altering the efficiency of the blood in transporting oxygen, anemia also causes a higher heart rate, which may lead to heart failure in very severe anemia.
- Respiratory: since the heart is beating faster, the patient must also breathe faster to obtain the extra oxygen that the blood is trying to supply. This causes shortness of breath, panting, etc.
- Nervous: the blood isn't providing enough oxygen to the brain (roughly 1/6 of the blood from the heart goes to the brain!), the brain cells are also experiencing fatigue, expressed in dizziness, inability to focus, and general fatigue.
- Muscular: the muscles become weaker and feel more tired with anemia, because the muscle cells are unable to convert enough glucose into usable form
- Integumentary: anemia causes pallor, which is the paleness of skin and membranes (most common in the palms, the eyes, and the nails). Also, iron-deficiency anemia is accompanied by koilonychia, which is brittle, thin, and flat/concave nails.
- Urinary: hemolytic anemia (the increased breakdown of red blood cells) causes more chemicals from dead RBCs that need to be disposed of. The urinary system may not be able to cope with the demand, causing jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of the skin and eye whites).
- Digestive: iron-deficiency anemia may cause pica, which is the desire to eat non-food items (in this case probably rich in iron)
- Skeletal: Thalassmias (the genetic inability of the bone marrow to form enough hemoglobin) can cause bone marrow to grow in response to the unsatisfactory supply of hemoglobin. This may cause bone deformation and brittle bones.