Your doctor may prescribe medicines to help your bone marrow make more red blood cells. If your anemia is caused by an autoimmune disease, you may need medicines to suppress your immune system. Your immune system is your body's natural defense against germs and sickness.
Anemia Caused By Vitamin B12 and Folate Deficiency
Treatment depends on the cause of the deficiency. If your body stores are depleted of vitamin B12, your doctor will most likely prescribe vitamin B12 injections. Vitamin B12 can also be given by mouth, but very high doses are needed.
Primary care doctors often diagnose and treat iron-deficiency anemia. These doctors include pediatricians, family doctors, gynecologists/obstetricians, and internal medicine specialists.
Call Your Doctor About Anemia If:
Poor diet or inadequate dietary intake of vitamins and minerals. Very heavy menstrual periods. Symptoms of an ulcer, gastritis, hemorrhoids, bloody or tarry stools, or colorectal cancer. Concern about environmental exposure to lead.
Ferrous sulfate is the mainstay treatment for treating patients with iron deficiency anemia. It should be continued for about 2 months after correction of the anemia and its etiologic cause in order to replenish body stores of iron. Ferrous sulfate is the most common and cheapest form of iron used.
Severe iron deficiency anaemia may increase your risk of developing complications that affect the heart or lungs, such as an abnormally fast heartbeat (tachycardia) or heart failure, where your heart is unable to pump enough blood around your body at the right pressure.
Without healthy red blood cells that do their job, your body doesn't get the energy it needs to function. While some types of anemia are short-term and mild, others can last for a lifetime. Left untreated, anemia may be life-threatening.
Weakness. Pale skin. Chest pain, fast heartbeat or shortness of breath. Headache, dizziness or lightheadedness.
Your health expert: Dr Amilia Alifrangis, Bupa Clinics GP
If you have anaemia, you don't have enough red blood cells or haemoglobin for your body's needs. Red blood cells use haemoglobin to carry oxygen to your tissues and organs. Anaemia can cause symptoms such as tiredness, weakness, or shortness of breath.
Treatment for iron-deficiency anemia will depend on its cause and severity. Treatments may include dietary changes and supplements, medicines, and surgery. Severe iron-deficiency anemia may require a blood transfusion, iron injections, or intravenous (IV) iron therapy. Treatment may need to be done in a hospital.
You will be provided with a prescription for your iron infusion – this can also be obtained from your referring GP. This prescription can be filled at any pharmacy and will cost around $30 to $40. Bring this to your consultation. Prior to your infusion a cannula will be inserted into a vein in your arm.
Direct GP referral to IVAS for Iron infusion is only permitted for known causes of iron deficiency. New unexplained anaemia or other acute symptoms need to be referred to Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (AECU) in the usual way for investigation.
It often takes three to six months to restore your iron levels.
The connection between low iron, body weight, and hemoglobin is apparent when low energy makes exercising and burning calories difficult, causing weight gain. Conversely, iron deficiency anemia may contribute to decreased appetite, resulting in weight loss.
Stress is believed to affect the vitamin metabolism in your body. So, if you are under a lot of stress, your body uses up a lot of magnesium. Again, if you are suffering from both stress and anxiety, the level of magnesium in your body might reach a minimum level, thus causing mild anaemia.
Warning signs of anemia you shouldn't ignore
Persistent fatigue. Weakness. Dizziness. Shortness of breath.
Fatigue. Tiring easily, and waking up tired even after a good night's sleep, are common and potentially serious symptoms of anemia. This is due to reduced and compromised red blood cells that naturally cannot carry the required levels of oxygen to the organs – which, in turn, cannot function efficiently.
Anemia and leukemia are both conditions that affect a person's blood. Although there is no evidence that anemia can cause leukemia, people with leukemia are more likely to develop anemia. This could be because leukemia, a form of blood cancer, causes anemia, which involves a reduction in red blood cells.
When to see a doctor. Make an appointment with your health care provider if you're tired or short of breath and don't know why. Low levels of the protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen, called hemoglobin, is the main sign of anemia.
The last stage is iron deficiency anemia. It is characterized by a low hemoglobin concentration with small (microcytic), pale (hypochromic) RBCs. Symptoms include fatigue upon exertion, weakness, headaches, apathy, pallor, poor resistance to cold temperatures, low physical work capacity, and poor immune function.
One of the best ways to manage anemia-related fatigue is to try and get sufficient sleep. However, you will want to avoid sleeping too much because that will add to fatigue. Instead, aim to get seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Naps are fine but limit yourself to one short 20- to 30-minute nap a day.
Treatment may increase your energy and activity levels, improve your quality of life, and help you live longer. With proper treatment, many types of anemia are mild and short term. However, anemia can be severe, long lasting, or even fatal when it's caused by an inherited or chronic disease or trauma.
Iron supplements can increase the iron in your body. This may help treat iron-deficiency anemia. Iron supplements are generally not given to people who do not have iron-deficiency anemia because too much iron can damage your organs. Vitamin B12 supplements or shots can help treat vitamin B12–deficiency anemia.