How to recognize hemoglobin deficiency and increase its content
Lack of hemoglobin leads to the development of anemia.
Anemia can be an independent disease or be one of the symptoms of a more severe pathology.
In the modern world it is quite widespread and affects all age groups of the population.
For many countries, anemia has already become a social problem, as it affects people's ability to work, quality of life, and can even become deadly. That is why the earliest diagnosis and treatment of this pathology is so important.
According to the criteria of the World Health Organization, anemia can be diagnosed in a person if the hemoglobin level in a general blood test is below 120 g/l for women, or 130 g/l for men.
Moreover, it is important not only to what extent the hemoglobin is reduced, but also the reason why this happened. Such reasons include:
- Any type of bleeding (acute or chronic).
- Deficiency of vitamins and microelements (iron, vitamin B-12).
- Hereditary diseases (sickle cell anemia).
- Increased destruction of red blood cells (hemolytic anemia), etc.
What can prompt thoughts about a lack of hemoglobin? The list of signs is quite extensive, but a person can notice most of them himself.
This is general weakness, loss of appetite, rapid physical and mental fatigue. Over time, these symptoms are often accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness, tinnitus, and flickering "flies" before the eyes.
The appearance of noticeable pallor, rapid heartbeat and fainting should be especially alarming and prompt active steps to diagnose and treat the disease.
The data from most scientific studies indicate that in 90% of cases, the development of anemia is caused by a banal lack of iron in the body, which means that by replenishing the deficiency, you can easily forget about both the symptoms and the anemia.
The first step is to confirm (refute) the presence of anemia due to iron deficiency. A simple blood test will help with this.
Having established that the reason for the decrease in hemoglobin is a lack of iron in the body, it is necessary to find out why iron itself became lacking. This is the second stage.
Often, the cause lies in banal nutritional deficiency, that is, insufficient consumption of foods containing iron.
At this stage, it is important to exclude other causes of deficiency of this microelement, because some of them can be very serious and pose a threat to human life and health.
These reasons include: chronic blood loss of various localizations, impaired iron absorption (intestinal infections, operations on the stomach and intestines), increased need for iron (pregnancy, lactation, the presence of a tumor or parasites in the body), impaired transport of the microelement (deficiency of transport proteins).
Further tactics and treatment method depend on how much the hemoglobin level has decreased.
In case of moderate or severe anemia (i.e. decrease in hemoglobin below 70 g/l), a person needs active monitoring and even treatment in a hospital. In case of mild anemia, hospitalization is not required.
After diagnosing all of the above, the third stage begins – determining the treatment plan.
To correct this condition, not only medications are needed, but also changes in the usual lifestyle.
It should not be forgotten that strict adherence to some particularly important points is essential for both effective treatment and further prevention of such a condition.
Firstly, if there is already an iron deficiency, it is impossible to correct it by changing your diet alone. It is necessary to take iron-containing drugs to replace the already lost microelement.
The duration of treatment with the therapeutic dose is from four to eight weeks.
Secondly, iron intake must be continued even after hemoglobin levels have returned to normal.
It is necessary not only to replenish the deficiency, but also to fill the body's reserve. A person must take the drugs for another one and a half to three months.
It all depends on how much the hemoglobin level has been reduced. Thus, full treatment lasts up to six months.
In addition to taking medications, you need to change your diet. This will not only help speed up recovery, but also change your eating habits.
An adult requires 15-18 mg of iron per day, since only 2-2.5 mg of this is absorbed.
To do this, you need to include foods rich in this microelement in your diet. These include:
- Mollusks.
- Red meat.
- Legumes.
- Spinach.
- Pumpkin seeds.
- Quinoa.
- Dark chocolate.
- Broccoli.
- Offal.
- Tofu.
Regularly including these foods in your diet will help you quickly replenish your iron deficiency and prevent the development of iron deficiency anemia in the future.
