Symptoms of a mild form: chronic fatigue (even despite enough hours of sleep), inability to concentrate and think clearly, weakness and fatigue, allotriophagy (desire to eat inedible things: ice, clay or even mud), pale skin color (associated with lack of blood , saturated with oxygen).
If anemia is not detected on time and treatment is not started, symptoms of cardiac disease may appear. There is nothing surprising. You are fatigued by a lack of blood, rich in oxygen, the heart is working on wear and tear, the body is tired. But cope with anemia is very simple. It can be easily controlled and quickly cured with iron in the form of tablets and a special diet rich in iron.
Eat foods high in iron.
The recommended daily intake of iron for women from 19 to 50 years is 18 mg. Pregnant women need this element in a much larger amount - 27 mg. Men, as well as women after menopause, need much less - only 8 mg of iron per day.
Although the beef, lamb and dark poultry meat contain the largest amount of iron, which is also more easily absorbed by the body than iron from other sources, in considerable quantities it can be found in other foods. Leaf lettuce, beans, dried fruits, nuts, whole grains, rich rice, pasta, pasta, as well as mollusks - all serve as an excellent source of iron.
Take food supplements. If you have anemia, first of all, after examining you, doctors will recommend taking iron-containing food supplements to restore the normal level of hemoglobin and serum iron in the body. A marked improvement will come in a couple of weeks after the start of the procedure. It is important to continue taking these supplements during the entire time prescribed by your doctor. Often, to increase iron stores in the body, the course of administration is prescribed for up to six months. The most common side effects of these drugs are the severity in the stomach and constipation. In order to get rid of them, as a rule, it is enough to switch to eating foods rich in fiber, drink plenty of water and do physical exercises. And yet, anemia is a disease that can not pass by itself.
Beware of iron blockers . Some substances contained in food can adversely affect the bioavailability of iron. The group of substances that block iron includes phosphates contained in milk and egg white, calcium in dairy products, nitrates in foods high in fiber, and tannin and polyphenol found in coffee and tea. Some foods, such as spinach and soy beans, are rich in iron, but they also contain substances that interfere with the absorption of iron. You do not need to exclude these foods from your diet at all, but do not use them together with products rich in iron. Try to separate them.
Try to turn to traditional Chinese medicine.
According to the principles of TCM, a low level of energy of life ("Qi") in the blood leads to anemia. TCM not only helps to regulate the menstrual cycle, but also increases energy tone. The most common prescription prescribed for patients by doctors who have long practiced TCM is a decoction of four medicinal herbs (Si By Tang). It is prepared from the remnant (shu di-wan), the peony of the milky-flowering (Bai Shao), the Chinese summers (dang kui) and the Wolli-cha (Wushu-cha) ligusticum. TCM advises to prepare food using plants with high iron content. These include: parsley, dandelion, yellow sorrel root, watercress, nettle and burdock root, sarsaparrel and red alga.
Choose drinks on herbs.
Instead of coffee and plain tea, try a thread of tea made from anise, caraway, mint or lime-colored. You can also try drinks made from crushed cereals (wheat and barley) or algae (green-blue or chlorella), which contain a large number of useful elements and promote the assimilation of iron.
Approach with caution to physical exertion
Women who lead an active lifestyle, especially those who run, reserves of iron in the body are often below normal. Therefore, if you often experience fitness stress, it is especially important to donate blood for analysis annually. Even small physical exertion can cause anemia in women, in whose body iron levels are below normal.
Do you have anemia?
If you have symptoms of anemia, ask your doctor to conduct a detailed blood test to find out about the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin (iron-containing protein and transporting oxygen to cells) and the level of hematocrit, which determines the blood's ability to transport oxygen.
Find out the reason
First of all, if you suffer from anemia, you need to find out the cause of the disease. Anemia is predominantly a woman's disease. In most cases, the cause is frequent or profuse menstrual cycles. Although there are other conditions that can provoke anemia.
Contact your doctor for help
According to the Center for Disease Surveillance, 12% of women aged 12 to 49 suffer from anemia due to iron deficiency in the body. If you think that you belong to them, do not try to heal yourself. In total, there are more than 400 different types of this disease. Therefore, any anemia should be treated and observed by your doctor.