Iron deficiency
Iron deficiency is the insufficient content of this mineral in the body. In case of prolonged current deficiency, iron deficiency anemia develops. As follows from the description, iron deficiency does not always mean anemia.
What are the causes?
The causes of iron deficiency can be divided into 3 groups, loss of iron /blood loss/, insufficient absorption of this mineral from the gastrointestinal tract, too little intake of iron from the food and other reasons.
Causes of blood loss
• Obvious blood loss associated with trauma, surgical interventions;
• Blood loss due to disease – gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, hemorrhoidal bleeding;
• Menstrual bleeding;
• Donation;
Causes of insufficient absorption of iron
• Atrophic gastritis;
• Infection with the bacterium Helicobacter;
• Celiac disease;
Causes of insufficient iron intake
• Vegetarianism, veganism;
• Various unbalanced diets;
• Deteriorated socio-economic conditions;
Other causes of iron deficiency
• Intravascular hemolysis with iron loss through the urinary tract;
• Hemolysis associated with the implantation of artificial heart valves;
• Nocturnal paroxysmal hemoglobinuria;
• Surgical interventions due to obesity – bypass of the stomach;
What are the symptoms?
Weakness, dizziness, poor exercise tolerance, rapid heartbeat, sore tongue, dry mouth, atrophy of the papillae of the tongue, bruising on the whites of the eyes, alopecia.< /p>
Perverted taste is often observed – pacophagia /desire to eat ice/, geophagia /need to eat soil, clay/, amilophagia /desire to eat paper, cellulose/.
Iron deficiency can worsen the course of heart failure, ischemic heart disease and dementia.
It is not uncommon to see restless legs syndrome, consisting of discomfort in the legs at rest, expressed in movement.
Iron deficiency is associated with bituria – reddening of urine after the use of beetroot.
Even in rich and developed countries, iron deficiency is found in 20% of the population, in developing countries and in countries with a low health culture, the real problem of iron deficiency is much greater.
Unfortunately, not much attention is paid to this problem in Bulgaria, even recently data were published that 29.5% of pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency.
Patients with a deficiency of this mineral are often treated for non-existent diseases such as vegetative-vascular or neurocirculatory dystonia or take preparations with unproven effectiveness.
Diagnosis
First of all, a complete blood count is done to detect a low level of hemoglobin. The lower limit of the normal hemoglobin level is 120 grams per liter for women and 130 /140/ grams per liter for men.
Unfortunately, in our country, a hemoglobin level of 110 or even 100 grams per liter of blood is considered normal, and such levels already indicate anemia.
Treatment of iron deficiency
After confirming the diagnosis and the possible cause of the iron deficiency, treatment is prescribed. Its principle is extremely simple – liquidation of the causes of the shortage of the mineral.
Important
Treatment of iron deficiency, although very simple, is very lengthy. The main mistake encountered in practice is the appointment of preparations containing iron for a very short time.
Even the minor deficiency of the mineral is corrected for a period of no less than 2 months. And with an already pronounced iron deficiency, the treatment can last up to 6 months or more. In most cases, iron is prescribed in capsules and tablets.
In some cases, intravenous infusion of iron-containing preparations is also necessary due to the impaired absorption of the mineral from the digestive system.
