Contents:
- Medical Video: Pregnancy FAQs : How to Get Pregnant With Anemia
- Get to know anemia in chronic diseases
- How dangerous is anemia from chronic illness?
- How can chronic diseases cause anemia?
- What chronic diseases can trigger anemia?
- 1. Kidney disease
- 2. Chronic infections and inflammation
- How to overcome anemia due to chronic disease?
Medical Video: Pregnancy FAQs : How to Get Pregnant With Anemia
Chronic disease is one reason the body cannot function perfectly. This is caused by ongoing infection or organ damage. Over the past few decades, it is known that a history of chronic diseases contributes to the emergence of anemic conditions in a person. However, anemia due to this chronic disease has a mechanism for the development of diseases that are different from anemia in general.
Get to know anemia in chronic diseases
Anemia is generally a condition that arises when the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells (hemoglobin). Similar conditions can also be experienced by people with chronic diseases, but the condition of anemia is caused by inflammation that damages or interferes with healthy red blood cell production. As a result, the body experiences a lack of oxygen carried by hemoglobin.
Anemia in chronic disease is the most common type of anemia, after anemia due to iron deficiency. Because the main cause is inflammation, this type of anemia can occur in anyone who experiences chronic disease, because the presence of inflammation for a long time can affect the production of healthy red blood cells. However, older people with chronic diseases are more at risk of anemia. Anemia due to inflammation can also occur due to acute infection in children.
How dangerous is anemia from chronic illness?
Anemia in chronic diseases tends to occur slowly and cause mild or no serious symptoms. In general, sufferers of chronic diseases who experience anemia will feel an uncomfortable feeling from the usual condition and accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Limp
- fatigue
- The skin looks pale
- The heart beats fast
- Hard to breathe
The duration of anemia experienced by people with chronic diseases depends on the physical condition of the patient, the type, and the severity of the disease that causes it. If this type of anemia occurs for a long time and gets worse, oxygen in the blood can experience a serious decline which can lead to intolerance to physical activity. This is a condition where a person becomes easily tired and can trigger failure of the heart and other organs.
How can chronic diseases cause anemia?
Chronic diseases cause some changes in body function, especially in the mechanism of red blood cell formation. Long-term inflammation causes the age of red blood cells to be shorter, but at the same time iron deficiency occurs because red blood cells cannot be absorbed perfectly. Plus there are obstacles to the recycling of red blood cells.
In addition, a decrease in red blood cell production also occurs due to bodily disorders in response to hormones erythropoietin (EPO) produced by the kidneys to stimulate the bone marrow in the formation of blood.
What chronic diseases can trigger anemia?
Here are some chronic disease conditions that can trigger anemia:
1. Kidney disease
Disorders of the kidneys are a major risk of developing anemia in people with chronic diseases. This is because kidney disease can trigger a disruption in the production of EPO hormones and iron malabsorption. The condition of kidney failure in a person is also related to the emergence of anemia due to iron deficiency and folic acid due to methods of dialysis treatment in patients.
2. Chronic infections and inflammation
Inflammation or infection causes the body's immune system to produce cytokine proteins for defense mechanisms. However, cytokines can also affect the body's response to EPO and inhibit the absorption of iron in the blood, causing an anemia condition.
Chronic infections that can cause anemia include:
- HIV / AIDS
- Tuberculosis
- Syphilis
- infection of the heart (endocarditis)
- bone infection (osteomyelitis)
While some degenerative diseases can also cause chronic inflammation such as:
- rheumatoid arthritis
- lupus
- diabetes
- heart disease
- intestinal inflammation or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
3. Cancer
There are two types of cancer increasing the risk of anemia such as breast cancer and lymph cancer. In addition, the condition of anemia can also occur and get worse due to damage from chemotherapy and radiation and the spread of cancer cells that affect the bone marrow.
How to overcome anemia due to chronic disease?
Because the occurrence of anemia is caused by a chronic disease, both of them need to be dealt with simultaneously. Handling chronic diseases that cause anemia requires anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the risk of long-term damage. In addition, the use of the hormone EPO which helps blood cell formation is also needed by patients with kidney failure, especially those who are undergoing dialysis.
During the treatment period, sufferers of chronic disease need additional iron, vitamin B12 and folic acid intake to prevent nutritional deficiencies due to diet. This can be done through the consumption of food ingredients such as white meat, beans and cereals and spinach. Supplementation of these nutrients may also be needed especially if the patient has a lot of blood loss, malabsorption of nutrients and cancer.
