What are the symptoms of iron deficiency?
Iron deficiency occurs when there is not enough iron minerals in the body. This causes a decrease in the number of red blood cells (red blood cells) in the blood. Our body needs iron minerals to produce the hemoglobin protein contained in red blood cells. Homoglobin has the vital function of delivering oxygen in the blood to tissues and organs. If you don't have enough hemoglobin in your body, your tissues and muscles can't work efficiently because they can't get the oxygen they need. This is the condition called anemia . Iron deficiency symptoms vary according to the severity of anemia, how quickly it develops, your age and your current health status. A person with a healthy body, good health and young age may not experience any of these symptoms.
There are many different types of anemia worldwide. However, the most common and recognized is iron deficiency anemia. There are many known causes of this type of anemia. These include inadequate and unbalanced nutrition, inflammatory bowel diseases, increased needs of the mother and baby during pregnancy, blood loss due to internal bleeding. In addition, women's blood loss during menstrual periods and birth can be added to the continuation of this list.
Regardless of these reasons, iron deficiency can cause a number of disturbing symptoms that will degrade your quality of life and make you feel uncomfortable. These symptoms include health problems, loss of concentration, and consequently a reduction in work efficiency.
We've put together the 10 most common signs of iron deficiency for you.
Iron Deficiency Symptoms
1. Unusual Fatigue
One of the most common symptoms encountered in patients with anemia is that one is constantly tired . So why does a person feel so tired? This is because our body needs iron to produce the hemoglobin protein found in red blood cells. Hemoglobin helps transport oxygen in the blood to tissues and muscles.
Because there is not enough hemoglobin in your body, less oxygen will go to the tissues and muscles in the organs. This will lower your energy level and reduce your efficiency. You will also be tired as your heart makes an extraordinary effort to pump a small amount of blood rich in oxygen into your body.
However, we cannot diagnose iron deficiency anemia only with the symptoms of fatigue . Because fatigue is considered a part of modern life. However, many people with iron deficiency feel very weak during the day, but also have difficulty concentrating on their work. This leads to reduced productivity and occasional nerve seizures in daily life.
SUMMARY
Unusual fatigue in daily life is one of the most common symptoms of iron deficiency. This results in a lower energy level due to the small amount of oxygen reaching the tissues in your body.
2. Wiltness
Fading of the inner parts of our skin and lower eyelids is also a common symptom of iron deficiency. Hemoglobin in red blood cells is a molecule that gives blood its red color. Therefore, if you have iron deficiency, your blood becomes pale because the hemoglobin level in our blood is low. The skin color of the patients with iron deficiency is pink because of the low amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
In people with iron deficiency, this wilt can be seen from all sides of the body, including the face, gums, inner lips, lower eyelids, even nails. These symptoms are the first signs doctors will look for in their bodies when diagnosing iron deficiency. However, this diagnosis must still be confirmed by a blood test.
Wilted skin is one of the more common symptoms of moderate or severe anemia. If you pull your lower eyelid down, the inner layer you see should normally be in vivid red. However, if this inner layer is pale pink or close to yellow, it means that you have a lack of iron.
SUMMARY
Excessive wilt in certain areas such as the face, lower eyelid and nail, or throughout your body, may be a sign that you are experiencing moderate or severe iron deficiency. This is due to the low level of hemoglobin that gives blood red color.
3. Shortness of Breath
The hemoglobin molecule in the red blood cells in our blood allows oxygen to be transported throughout the body. During iron deficiency, your body's hemoglobin level is low, so your oxygen level will be low. In this case, because your muscles do not get enough oxygen, you will have difficulty doing normal activities such as walking and running.
Your respiratory rate will increase as your body tries to get more oxygen. As a result, shortness of breath is one of the most common symptoms of iron deficiency.
In the past, you could easily do everyday tasks such as walking, climbing stairs or exercising, and now you may be out of breath while doing such activities due to iron deficiency.
SUMMARY
Shortness of breath is a sign of iron deficiency. Since the hemoglobin level is low, oxygen in the body cannot be effectively transported to the muscles and tissues.
4. Headache and Dizziness
Iron deficiency can also cause headaches. The headache symptom usually occurs with dizziness and is less common than the symptoms I mentioned earlier.
During iron deficiency, the hemoglobin levels in the red blood cells are lower than they should be and may not reach the brain with enough oxygen. This causes the blood vessels in the brain to swell, causing the patient to pressurize the skull and cause headaches.
Although there are many causes of headache, headache which is frequently recurring and accompanied by dizziness may be a symptom of iron deficiency.
SUMMARY
Headache and dizziness can be a sign of iron deficiency. The amount of oxygen reaching the brain due to hemoglobin deficiency is not enough. This leads to swelling of blood vessels and creating pressure.
5. Heart palpitations
Heartbeats, also known as heart palpitations, may be another symptom of iron deficiency anemia.
As I mentioned before, hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that helps transport oxygen in the body.
Since hemoglobin levels may be low due to iron deficiency, your heart will work harder to carry the oxygen-rich blood to the tissues. This may cause you to feel that your heart beats abnormally fast and your heartbeat is irregular.
In extreme cases where the heart is abnormally fast, you may even experience heart murmurs, heart enlargement, and ultimately heart failure.
However, it is not common for you to come face to face with such cases. Because you have to suffer from iron deficiency for a long time to experience these serious ailments.
SUMMARY
In cases of iron deficiency, the heart must use extra effort to carry oxygen to all parts of our body. This can cause irregular and rapid heartbeats, or even heart pumping, heart enlargement, or heart failure.
6. Having Dry, Worn Skin and Hair
Dry and damaged hair and skin may also be a sign of iron deficiency. When iron deficiency is present in the body, a limited amount of oxygen is transmitted to the organs of other body tissues, which have to perform important functions. As your hair and skin cannot get enough oxygen, it will be dry and weak. This may even cause hair loss in more severe iron deficiency cases.
It is quite normal for you to experience hair loss while washing or bathing your hair in daily life. However, if you lose more hair than you normally do during a bath, it may be because of the lack of iron you have experienced.
SUMMARY
Your hair and skin may look dry and worn out because of less oxygen in iron deficiency situations. In very serious cases, the lack of iron can result in hair loss.
7. Tongue and Mouth Bloating and Pain
Occasionally looking inside or around your mouth can give you an impression of whether you are experiencing iron deficiency anemia. Swelling of our tongue, collection of inflammation in some parts, discoloration of the tongue and the formation of some unevenness in your tongue may be considered as signs of iron deficiency.
Low hemoglobin levels in the blood due to iron deficiency can cause your tongue to fade. Similarly, a decrease in myoglobin levels due to iron deficiency is the cause of pain, swelling and roughness of your tongue.
Myoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that supports the muscles in our body, just like the muscles in your tongue.
Iron deficiency can also cause dry mouth, smell of your mouth, red cracks in the corners of your mouth or mouth ulcers.
SUMMARY
Frequent pain, swelling, or abnormally rough tongue may be a symptom of iron deficiency anemia. Cracks in the mouth corners and ulcers can also be seen as a sign of iron deficiency.
8. Restless Legs
Restless leg syndrome is one of the symptoms associated with iron deficiency.
Restless leg syndrome This is a powerful urge to keep your legs resting. If you suffer from restless leg syndrome, your feet and legs may have a strange feeling of crawling or itching.
This will cause you to have a bad experience, especially at night. Therefore, people with restless legs syndrome have to make more effort to fall asleep than others.
In fact, the causes of restless leg syndrome are not completely clear. However, 25% of people with restless leg syndrome are thought to be iron deficiency anemia. Because the lower the iron level in the body, the more experienced the symptoms become.
9. Fragile and Spoon Shaped Nails
Koilonychia is a much less common symptom of iron deficiency compared to others. The nails of people with Koilonychia are reminiscent of the shape of a fragile, inwardly curved spoon shape. The nails of such patients will easily crack and break.
In the later stages of iron deficiency, the nails of the patients collapse down from the middle and the edges begin to rise. At the last stage the nails take the appearance of a spoon. However, it is rarely seen in patients with severe iron deficiency anemia that the nails of patients turn into this shape.
SUMMARY
To summarize, brittle or spoon-shaped nails can be a marker of much more severe iron deficiency anemia.
10. Other Iron Deficiency Symptoms
There are other symptoms that indicate that the level of iron in your body may be low. Since these symptoms are less common than what I have written so far, they can be associated with many conditions other than iron deficiency.
Other symptoms of iron deficiency anemia include:
Weird urge for appetite : It is the equivalent of a person's sense of eating strange foods, even non-food products, called inde pica inde in medicine. The patient often has an extreme desire to eat products that he does not eat at normal time, such as ice, earth, chalk or paper. This may be a symptom of iron deficiency, according to experts. It is mostly seen during pregnancy.
Anxiety and uneasiness : A small amount of oxygen in the body tissues due to iron deficiency can cause the person to worry where he is standing. However, this is temporary because the level of iron in the body improves.
Cold hands and feet : Lack of iron means that oxygen in the body reaches the hands and feet less. Hands and feet that do not get enough oxygen are cooler than normal time. Some people, however, are generally more prone to colds or have cold hands and feet.
Common infections: The higher the iron level in our body, the stronger your immune system. Since iron deficiency will disrupt your immune system, you have a higher incidence of diseases such as inflammatory bowel syndrome .
SUMMARY
There are other symptoms that are less common than those mentioned earlier. These include appetite for strange foods, anxiety and anxiety, constant cold of hands and feet, and more frequent infections than usual.
What Should You Do If You Think You Have Iron Deficiency?
If you think you have iron deficiency anemia, it is a good idea to write down the following recommendations.
Consult your doctor first
If you think you are experiencing the symptoms and symptoms of iron deficiency anemia, you should first consider calling your doctor and making an appointment. A simple blood test from your doctor will confirm whether you have iron deficiency.
If your doctor confirms that you have iron deficiency as a result of the test, you can easily increase your iron level with the proper diet and iron supplements your doctor recommends. In this way, you will treat your iron deficiency yourself.
The main purpose of treatment is to increase your hemoglobin level in your blood and to replenish the iron stores in your body. During this process, you should ensure that you are fed with foods rich in iron minerals and that you are getting enough iron. Use iron supplements only as directed by your doctor.
Foods Good for Iron Deficiency
If your doctor thinks that the reason for your iron deficiency may be due to lack of iron in your diet, you may want to consume iron-rich foods, which I will write below:
Red meat, pork and poultry Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, cabbage and capers Dried fruits such as raisins and apricots Legumes such as peas, beans sea products Iron-reinforced foods Nuts, peanuts and seeds
Iron Reinforcement
If your doctor recommends, you should consider taking iron supplements as a last resort. Your doctor probably makes this recommendation because you cannot compensate for the iron deficiency in your body just by waiting.
If you are taking iron supplements, you should try drinking orange juice with you. Because vitamin C helps the absorption of iron in the body.
Keep in mind that taking iron supplements can cause some side effects on your body. These side effects include stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea and black feces. However, the side effects I've said vary depending on the dose of iron supplement you use. As your body gets used to it, side effects will decrease.
SUMMARY
If you think you have iron deficiency anemia, you should first consult your doctor. Your doctor will advise you to eat with iron-rich foods at first. You will probably also drink vitamin C drinks to increase the absorption of iron during nutrition. If this is not enough for you, he will recommend you to take iron supplements.
RESULT
Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia worldwide. Some people experience severe symptoms, while others do not even realize that they are iron deficient. This depends on the severity and severity of anemia.
The known and common symptoms of iron deficiency anemia are as follows. Excessive fatigue, pale or dry skin, visible heartbeat, headache and dizziness, shortness of breath, dry and worn hair, painful or swollen tongue, cracks in the mouth, restless leg syndrome, fragile or spoon-shaped nails.
If you think you have iron deficiency symptoms, you should first consult your doctor. It is not recommended to diagnose yourself and apply treatment at home.
Many types of iron deficiency can now be easily treated. If your doctor considers it appropriate, you will first apply a nutrition program containing foods rich in iron minerals. If this is not enough, your doctor will recommend that you take iron supplements.
47AXX
Centrum Women (250 Count) Multivitamin / Multimineral Supplement Tablet, Vitamin D3