When it’s time to check your iron levels
Disclaimer: Not medical or professional advice. Always seek the advice of your physician.
Iron deficiency anemia is a common type of anemia — a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's tissues
In recent years, anemia has been affecting more and more people. This is because our food pyramid has turned upside down. We consume more high-carb foods, considerably overload on simple carbohydrates, and do not get enough protein. Only think of it: 45% of the world population is anemic.
Iron Deficiency Symptoms In Adults
- The skin turns dry and pale, starts to peel, skin rashes can occur.
- Nails become brittle, suffer structural changes.
- Hair loss.
- The onset of angular cheilitis (sore lesions at the corners of the mouth).
- Nutritional disorders of the nervous system lead to a lack of coordination, cognitive impairment, and poor memory.
- Eye floaters and tinnitus, dizziness arising from impaired blood flow to the brain vessels.
- Lethargy, sudden tiredness, weakness as symptoms of the intracellular malnutrition of body tissues.
- Heart rhythm disorder (tachycardia), hypotension, chest pain occur when the cardiac muscle is deprived of oxygen.
- Shortness of breath and swelling caused by disturbed tissue redox.
- Perversion of taste (urge to eat chalk, dirt).
- Development and exacerbation of oral diseases (glossitis, caries, stomatitis).
- Local immunity gets impaired, so wounds and sites of the infection that appear on the skin become difficult to heal, requiring an integrated approach.
- Loss of weight and muscle mass.
- Erectile dysfunction in men.
- Cravings for sweet/starchy/salty/sour foods.
- Anxious thoughts, panic attacks.
- Endometriosis.
- Nasal polyps.
- Menstrual irregularities.
- Infertility.
- Endocrine disorders.
- Corneal dystrophy, blurred vision.
Signs of Iron Deficiency In Children
- Pale skin and mucous membranes
- Rapid mental fatigue
- Dizziness, weakness
- Frequent colds and intestinal infections
- Poor appetite can sometimes be the first and only symptom
- Treatment-resistant atopic dermatitis
- Hyperactivity
- Mental retardation
- Low school performance, memory impairment
- Urinary incontinence, enuresis
- Delay of menarche at the age of onset
- Sleep disturbance
Causes of Iron Deficiency
There are many different causes of iron deficiency in the human body. However, there are several conditions in which the body’s chronic iron losses exceed the replenished iron stores and, therefore, contribute to the development of iron deficiency of varying degrees of severity.
- An imbalanced diet with too little protein.
- Elevated iron demand: child growth, sports activity, pregnancy, illness, intoxication.
- Gastrointestinal malabsorption associated with gastric ulceration, pancreatitis, gastritis.
- Iron loss: bleeding, postpartum period, the onset of menarche in girls, hemorrhoids, parasitic diseases.
At Lake Conway, you can go through a full iron deficiency check simply by giving one blood sample (Hemoglobin Test).
Learn More about Iron Aeficiency
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