If a person is gasping for air and reaching for just a little more oxygen to get into the lungs, they are in need of help. Most people do not dream of having this happen to them, but not many know that a form of this affects a vast amount of people everyday. Not in the sense that they cannot physically breath, but in the sense that their bodies are starving for oxygen on the inside affecting many aspects of their life (Robbins). What is described here is the blood deficiency commonly known as Anemia. Anemia means very literally “without blood” (“Anemia Support”). This ever-present deficiency determines to make itself known to its victims through its various symptoms and pains.
Anemia is measured in the concentration of blood directly related
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Being B-12 deficient is not having enough vitamin B-12 in the body which assists in the making of red blood cells. In extreme cases of B-12 deficiency, the nervous system may be affected, and nerve damage, dementia, loss of balance and depression may occur (Robbins). Lastly, anemia is found through the formation of folate deficiency. Folate deficiency comes from not having enough folic acid within the body also assists in the upkeep of new blood cells within the body. Severe cases of folate deficiency may affect greying of hair, change in pigmentation, heart disease, heart failure and infertility. Another type of anemia, is called Sickle Cell Anemia. This type of anemia can become extremely dangerous. Sickle Cell Anemia breaks down and destroys red blood cells. “I see Anemic patients almost 100% in Oncology. I also see sickle cell patients quite often” (Roeger). The countless types of Anemia may have different effects on …show more content…
This can be caused by various things, one being poor diet. An important part of a person’s lifestyle should always be a healthy diet, especially for an anemic person. “ Diet is everything, and what I eat everyday directly affects how I feel later that day” (Anonymous). In order to help replenish blood cells, anemic people must consume a lot of meat, particularly red meats. This is because, the human body can absorb meats much more easily than other foods. Because of this, red meat is a fast and easy way to absorb iron back into the bloodstream when it is lacking. “I have to eat some type of meat at almost every meal in order to not feel dizzy” (Klement). Furthermore, an anemic person should not consume a lot of dairy as it could clog up their system and worsen
Sickle Cell Anemia is an autosomal recessive disorder, which increases blood thickness hence affects the smooth flow of blood. This causes by the destruction of red cells where the normal shape of red cell become a stiff sickle shape. As a result, sufficient oxygen does not reach the vital organs. A vaso-occlusive crisis arises from hindrance of blood circulation by sickled blood cells. It is characterized by sturdy pains and in some cases; it may cause permanent organ damage. This paper seeks to formulate a nursing diagnosis, as well as a plan of care that includes nursing interventions and the methods to be used to evaluate whether the interventions are successful (American Sickle Cell Anemia Association).
Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disorder that makes your body produce red blood cells that are abnormal in shape. This disease is also widely known as hemoglobin SS disease. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle cells are rigid and tenacious. Due to their shape and rigidness, they can block blood flow. In turn, this could cause organ damage to the body. Sickle cells are also fragile and die very easily due to the fact sickle cells have a lifespan of twenty days instead of the normal one hundred and twenty days for normal red blood cells.This causes the body to have a lower blood cell count, hence the name anemia in sickle cell anemia.
The spleen, an organ on the left side of the abdomen across from the liver, is responsible for filtering the blood for infections and other abnormalities. Normal red blood cells can change shape and squeeze through this filter, but sickled cells get stuck and cannot recirculate through the body, so that the number of circulating blood cells goes down. Meanwhile, the bone marrow, where red blood cells are made, pitches in by making more cells. It can't keep up with the destruction, though, so the total number of red blood cells drops to a low level and the body becomes anemic. ("Anemic" is the medical word for having a low number of red blood cells.)
There are many causes of anemia in the body. Some factors include genetics and deficiencies in the diet. Ms. A claims that for the past 10 – 12 years menorrhagia and dysmenorrheal have been a problem for her. Menorrhagia is abnormal and heavy menstrual bleeding during menstruation (Mayoclinic, 2013). Menorrhagia can deplete iron levels in the blood and increase the risk of an individual to have iron deficiency anemia. This is the cause of Ms. A’s anemia. Moreover, Ms. A says that she constantly takes aspirin especially in the summer to prevent stiffness in the joints. Aspirin affects and hinders the production of red blood cells (Mayoclinic, 2013). From the description of anemia given above, the lack of red blood cells, leads to low levels of iron and therefore low levels of hemoglobin which in turn affects the transportation of oxygen and thereby causing shortness of breath. Ms. A’s initial complains of shortness of breath and fatigue is the reason why she went to see the physician.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease in mostly people of Mediterranean, African, or Southeast Asian heritage which occurs when a person inherits the genes for sickle hemoglobin(NHLB). Sickle cell anemia is named from the shape that the red blood cells take because they become a crescent/sickle shape. Normally these red blood cells are flexible and round, but with sickle cell anemia they become rigid and sticky(Mayo Clinic) This shape inhibits the normal functions of red blood cells and they also cause blockages in blood flow to the limbs. The signs and symptoms of the disease vary, ranging from mild symptoms to drastic and hospital inducing health problems. There currently exists no widely available cure for sickle cell anemia, but as time passes and more research is done it is hopeful that there will be a cure.
Blood transfusions allow for infected blood cells to be cycled out and replaced by fresh new blood cells in hope that hemoglobin levels will be restored within the body. When treating a person with liver disease it’s almost routine for them to experience several blood transfusions a month in order to help restore properly working blood cells back into their bodies. Blood transfusions are also a more structurally sound medical procedure when compared to several medications or radiation therapy alternatives, which can in turn cause a number of other problems. Another example of a disease that can be supported by the cycling of blood is Anemia. There several different types of anemia including aplastic, fanconi, hemolytic, and sickle cell anemia. The Mayo Clinic describes Anemia as “condition in which you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body's tissues”. Hematologists have been prescribing their anemia patients with several blood transfusions a month in hopes of training their bodies to make proper working blood cells once again. A study posted in the Journal of Palliative Medicine was conducted on 64 volunteer patients with several different forms of anemia to see if blood transfusions would benefit their hemoglobin values over a 15-day period. It turns out that 95 percent of the patients had some
The problem is that sickle cell anemia affects about 72,000 Americans in the United States. Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease in which the body is unable to produce normal hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein. Abnormal hemoglobin can morph cells that can become lodged in narrow blood vessels, blocking oxygen from reaching organs and tissues. The effects of sickle cell anemia are bouts of extreme pain, infectious, fever, jaundice, stroke, slow growth, organ, and failure.
Yearly, around six hundred to nine hundred people are diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia within the United States. Aplastic Anemia is a autoimmune hematological disorder that causes pancytopenia which is a reduction in major blood components, namely, erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets. This disease has been labelled as a type of bone marrow failure, that is often due to not one but a variety of disorders that occur simultaneously. Aplastic Anemia can therefore be defined as a bone marrow disorder that is often rare, non contagious, and can often be life threatening.
When your body has a low supply level of B12, it can cause damage to your nerves and brain. If this vitamin deficiency continues for any length of time, the damage may become severe. Some of the usual symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency are fatigue, headaches, depression, weakness, memory problems, rapid heartbeat, tiredness, excessive sweating, the loss of skin tone, and the loss of healthy red blood cells.
Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that plays an important role in DNA synthesis and nerve function. It is contained in high amounts in animal derived foods such as milk, eggs, and meat. The vitamin is stored in the liver long-term. Individuals with vegetarian, vegan, or other forms of restricted diet may develop the condition after approximately 6 months as liver stores of vitamin B12 become depleted. Some individuals develop the condition due to autoimmune destruction of cells in the stomach that produce intrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is necessary for proper absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine.
Sickle Cell Anemia can drastically affect someone’s way of life in many ways. From early childhood and the rest of your life, you will be at the mercy of modern medicine to ease you of your pain and ward off infections. The disease is also life threatening, people with this disease suffer from strokes,...
VI. Some individuals requiring blood are surgical patients; burn victims; accident victims; anemics'; hemophiliacs; seriously ill babies; and persons suffering from leukemia, cancer, kidney disease and liver disease.
Iron is a mineral that is found the in hemoglobin of the Red Blood Cells. It facilitates in the transport of oxygen all over the body. Without this mineral, oxygen cannot be carried to its full capacity. 1 out of 10 women and small children have iron deficiencies. Lacking iron causes lethargy and a weakened immune system. Children who do not have an adequate intake of iron put themselves at risk for intellectual developmental problems. However, an iron deficient person is not necessarily anemic. 7.8 million women are iron deficient, while only 3.3 million women are anemic (http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9704/iron_def.htm). When the deficiency becomes so severe that the circulating Red Blood Count and the minerals Ht, Hg, and Hem drop below normal, anemia occurs (See Figure 1). The hormone androgen causes men and women to have different normal values of the hemogram (http://www.medstudents.com.br/hemat/hemat4.htm). Low ferritin (iron storage molecule) and high TIBC (tota...
Sickle cell anemia is a type of sickle cell disease that results in chronic anemia. Chronic anemia occurs when the body has less than the normal amount of red blood cells. This causes the body to be suppl...
Another example of deficiency disease’s associated with malnutrition are the by factors that are caused as a result of poor absorption of the vitamin B complex. The vitamin B complex consists of several parts, all of which are absorbed for individual purposes in the body. For example; anaemia is a deficiency caused as a result of not enough iron or vitamin B12 (part of the B vitamin complex) being absorbed by the body. Iron or B12 is the anti-anaemic substance required for the formation of healthy blood cells to transport oxygen around the body efficiently (Watson,