What is anemia? And what happens?

Question

I am just curious because I got my first period and it was really heavy. I told my mom and she said that all is well as long as you eat lots of iron so you don't get anemia.

Answer 1

Anemia refers to a lower than normal number of red blood cells circulating in your blood. Red blood cells (RBC's) are one of several materials that make up the oozy substance that we refer to as "blood". RBC's are important because they carry precious oxygen throughout the body. Without enough of them, the body will become oxygen-starved. Oxygen, as you probably know, is essential to life, and without it, we die. However, we need RBC's to grab the oxygen that we breathe into our lungs and carry the oxygen to all parts of the body. So, what does this have to do with your period and eating iron? Well, one way we lose RBC's is by bleeding or menstruating (basically, as the blood is lost from your body, the RBC's that reside in the blood are also lost). Over months and months of heavy periods, your overall RBC count can decrease to an abnormally low level. This low RBC level is called anemia. Iron is an important building block for RBC's. Because it's generally safe, doctors often prescribe iron to some people who have anemia because iron boosts the body's ability to pump out more RBC's into the blood.

Answer 2

Anemia happens when your blood doesn't have enough hemoglobin (he-mo-GLOBE-in). Hemoglobin helps red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to all parts of your body

Anemia takes some time to develop. In the beginning, you may ,not have any signs or they may be mild. But as it gets worse, you may have these symptoms:

fatigue weakness, low body temperature pale skin, rapid heartbeat ,shortness of breath ,chest pain ,dizziness, irritability
numbness or coldness in your hands and feet ,headache

Anemia is diagnosed by a blood test. If you have anemia, your health care provider (HCP) may want to do other tests to find out what's causing it, like ulcers (sore on the lining of the stomach or duodenum [beginning of the small intestine]) or polyps (growths).

So unusal menstrual discharge by itself cannot be ascribed to anemia. You mother is probably cor ret.

Answer 3

Anemia is a blood disorder. It's very common. This link has a lot of information if your interested. http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/anemia.html