When someone is anemic what does that mean?

Question

Just curious I am not.

Answer 1

Lack of Iron in there blood cells.....cells are depleted of this....get a blood cell screening

Answer 2

Anemic: Relating to anemia, the condition of having less than the normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. The oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is, therefore, decreased.

There are many forms of anemia, some of them common, others rare. They include, for example:

Aplastic anemia
Benzene poisoning
Fanconi anemia
Hemolytic disease of the newborn
Hereditary spherocytosis
Iron deficiency anemia
Osteopetrosis
Pernicious anemia
Sickle cell disease
Thalassemia
Myelodysplastic syndrome and a host of other bone marrow diseases.

Answer 3

it means you have a low white blood count....lack of iron in your body..which makes it easy to get an infection and very hard to fight it off.... even a common cold off...
Son was 13 weeks early..he was anemic for the first year & a half...he had to take iron drops 3 times a day...almost needed a blood transfusion...took him 8-10 weeks to fight off a cold...

Answer 4

Blood is composed of three types of cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets) that circulate throughout the body. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin (Hb), a red, iron-rich protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to all of the body's muscles and organs. Oxygen provides the energy the body needs for all of its normal activities.

Anemia (ah-NEE-mee-ah) is a medical condition that occurs when a person does not have enough red blood cells. Red blood cells are important because they contain hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body's muscles and organs. The body requires oxygen for energy. Therefore, when you are anemic, you may feel tired mentally and physically.

When the number of red blood cells decreases, the heart works harder to deliver oxygen where it is needed throughout the body. Anemia may become worse if it is not treated.

Answer 5

It means that either your red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin (oxygen-carrying protein) in your red blood cells is low.

There are several types of anemia:

Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common one. In the United States, 20 percent of all women of childbearing age have iron-deficiency anemia, compared to only 2 percent of adult men. The primary cause is blood lost during menstruation. But eating too few iron-rich foods or not absorbing enough iron can make the problem worse. The recommended daily allowance for iron ranges from 6 milligrams for infants, to 30 milligrams for pregnant women. Yet one government source found that females between 12 and 50 years old (those at highest risk for iron-deficiency anemia), get about half of what they need. Pregnancy, breast-feeding and blood loss from the gastrointestinal tract, either due to ulcers or cancer, can also deplete iron stores. Older women who have poor diets, especially when they live alone, often have iron-deficiency anemia.

Folic-acid deficiency anemia (megaloblastic anemia), occurs when folic-acid levels are low, usually due to inadequate dietary intake or faulty absorption. The need for this vitamin more than doubles during pregnancy. This is often not met by diets of pregnant women, so a supplement of 400 micrograms (mcg) to 1 milligram (mg) per day of folic acid is recommended throughout pregnancy. You should even take this supplement when you plan to become pregnant. Adquate folic acid should be in your system when you conceive and during the first month you are pregnant. Low folic acid intakes have been associated with low birth weight and neural tube defects, such as spina bifida in babies. Folic-acid deficiency can lead to infertility and an increased risk of infection. Also, a deficiency of this vitamin is seen frequently among elderly women, especially those who have poor diets.

Other, less common forms of anemia include:

Pernicious anemia - the inability of the body to properly absorb vitamin B12..
Hemolytic anemia - when red blood cells are destroyed prematurely.
Sickle cell anemia - an inherited disorder that occurs primarily in blacks, which affects the red blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
Thalassemia anemia - an inherited disorder in the synthesis of hemoglobins (substances that carry oxygen). It is also known as Mediterranean Disease.
Aplastic anemia - a serious disease of decreased bone marrow production. Alcohol, certain drugs, large amounts of aspirin and some chronic diseases can also cause anemia.

Answer 6

That person lacks Red Blood Cells...

Answer 7

Lack of iron in the blood. Get some blood tests. Also, eat more red meat. It can increase your iron levels, or you can take OTC iron pills, but you should only do this under a doctor's supervision.

Answer 8

Anemia or anaemia (see spelling differences), which literally means "without blood," is a deficiency of red blood cells and/or hemoglobin. This results in a reduced ability of blood to transfer oxygen to the tissues, and this causes hypoxia; since all human cells depend on oxygen for survival, varying degrees of anemia can have a wide range of clinical consequences. Hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein in the red blood cells) has to be present to ensure adequate oxygenation of all body tissues and organs.

The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss (acutely such as a hemorrhage or chronically through low-volume loss), excessive blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or deficient red blood cell production. In menstruating women, dietary iron deficiency is a common cause of deficient red blood cell production.

Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. There are several kinds of anemia, produced by a variety of underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of RBCs, underlying etiologic mechanisms, discernible clinical spectra, to mention a few.

Different clinicians approach anemia in different ways; two major approaches of classifying anemias include the "kinetic" approach which involves evaluating production, destruction and loss, and the "morphologic" approach which groups anemia by red blood cell size. (Schier) The morphologic approach uses a quickly available and cheap lab test as its starting point (the MCV--see below). On the other hand, focusing early on the question of production (e.g., via the reticulocyte count) may allow the clinician to more rapidly expose cases where multiple causes of anemia may coexist. Regardless of one's philosophy about the classification of anemia, however, methodical clinical evaluation should yield equally good results.

Signs and symptoms
Anemia goes undetected in many people, and symptoms can be vague. Most commonly, people with anemia report a feeling of weakness or fatigue. People with more severe anemia sometimes report shortness of breath. Very severe anemia prompts the body to compensate by markedly increasing cardiac output, leading to palpitations and sweatiness; this process can lead to heart failure in elderly people.

Pallor (pale skin and mucosal linings) is only notable in cases of severe anemia, and is therefore not a reliable sign.

Answer 9

They are lacking in iron and their blood count is out...can't remember if it's high or low- low on red blood cells I think

Answer 10

It means there is a lack of iron in their blood. They need to eat more spinach like Popeye!