What Everybody Ought to Know About Symptoms of Anemia

To better understand the symptoms of anemia, it is important first to have a general idea of the disease.

 

Sickle cell illness is a defect that affects the red blood cells of the body.

 

The red blood cells are known transport oxygen from the lungs to all body parts using a protein called hemoglobin.

 

Red blood cells are round. This makes it convenient for them to pass without inhibition in the blood vessels, which are usually narrow.

 

The hemoglobin is composed of two main parts namely the alpha and beta.

 

Those suffering from sickle-cell anemia do have mutations in a gene located on chromosome 11, which usually codes for the sub units of beta part of the hemoglobin. This makes the hemoglobin molecules not to form correctly, something that makes the red blood cells to have a concave shape.

 

Due to this irregular shape, the red blood cells get stuck in the body’s blood vessels making it challenging for them to transport oxygen in an effective and efficient manner.

 

Therefore, one of the symptoms of anemia is a lot of pain and extreme damage to the body organs.

 

When some vital organs like the spleen are damaged, the immune function of the body ordinarily becomes compromised; hence, the patient often is exposed to infections frequently.

 

Other symptoms of the disease include stroke, delayed growth, and jaundice which comprises of the yellowing of the eyes and skin that is as a result of liver damage.

 

To diagnose anemia, doctors recommend routine screening of newborns using a simple blood test method.

 

When anemia is not detected using this approach, hemoglobin electrophoresis is done. The test is aimed at determining whether an individual has the sickle-cell disease, or he is just a carrier of the defective hemoglobin gene.

 

People having symptoms of anemia should take medications so as to keep infections at bay.