There are more than 400 types of anemia, with each cause and treatment differently. But of the many types of anemia, there are five types of anemia that are more common.
Anemia is a condition in which the body lacks red blood cells, which are blood cells that serve to deliver oxygen to all organs of the body. Lack of oxygen supply can interfere with the functioning of body organs.
Anemia can be recognized from some of its symptoms, such as frequent weakness, paleness, headaches, heart palpitations, and difficulty concentrating.
Recognizing the Types of Anemia
Here are some common types of anemia:
- Iron deficiency anemia
- Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, and folate deficiency anemia
- Hemolytic anemia
- Aplastic anemia
- Sickle cell anemia
Apart from the types of anemia above, there is also anemia that you need to be aware of
- Anemia diamond-Blackfan
There is also anemia that you may rarely know
- Thalassemia anemia
- Fanconi anemia
- Blood Loss Anemia
Iron deficiency anemia
The type of anemia you may hear frequently is iron deficiency anemia. The body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, which plays a role in the spread of oxygen. This type of anemia occurs because the body is deficient in iron, so hemoglobin levels are also reduced.
To deal with this condition, sufferers need to consume foods that are high in iron as well as iron supplements. Vitamin C is also necessary, since this vitamin can help the absorption of iron from food more optimally.
If the iron supplement does not work as an anemia drug, this condition may also be triggered by bleeding or problems with the absorption of iron itself. To treat this, your doctor may offer the following treatment:
- Oral contraceptive drugs to control bleeding during menstruation for women
- Antibiotics to treat peptic ulcers
- Surgery to remove bleeding polyps, tumors, or fibroids
- In severe cases, the patient may be administered iron infusion, or undergo a blood transfusion
Sickle cell anemia
This type of anemia includes anemia caused by heredity and caused by genetic damage to the genes that make up hemoglobin in the blood. This type of anemia can arise as a result of your parents having a mutated gene and being a trigger for this type of sickle cell anemia disease.
This genetic mutation can cause the red blood cells produced to be shaped like crescent moons, and have a rigid and sticky texture. This is different from healthy red blood cells in general, because healthy red blood cells will have a round and flat shape where it will easily flow when in the vessels.
This type of sickle cell anemia with a condition that is severe enough can cause the potential occurrence of diseases such as stroke and heart attack. In addition, patients with sickle cell anemia can also experience swelling of the hands and feet, and will experience a decrease in the body’s ability to fight infections.
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia is the most high-risk type of anemia, it can even lead to death.
This condition is a blood disorder in which the bone marrow is unable to produce sufficient amounts of new blood cells.
This results in a number of heart problems including infection, uncontrolled bleeding, and heart failure.
The cause can be hereditary, infections, autoimmune diseases, side effects of cancer radiation therapy to exposure to toxic substances.
Symptoms of aplastic anemia include fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and headache, cold hands and feet, skin, pale gums and nails, to chest pain.
The treatment is through blood transfusion, bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for routine treatment.
Hemolytic anemia
This type of hemolytic anemia is caused when red blood cells are destroyed before their normal lifespan ends.
The bone marrow is unable to produce new red blood cells quickly enough to meet the body’s demands.