Anemia in Pregnancy: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Iron Deficiency – Anemia During Pregnancy

Anemia can be considered as a health condition that most of the pregnant women have to face. Hence, it is important for you to have a clear understanding about Anemia in pregnancy and take appropriate steps to stay away from the negative consequences caused by it.

What exactly is Anemia?

Anemia takes place when there aren’t enough red blood cells within the bloodstream. The red blood cells in your bloodstream are responsible for carrying oxygen into the tissues and organs of your body. When there aren’t enough red blood cells, the ability of your body to carry oxygen will be deprived. As a result, your organs and tissues will be impacted at the end of the day.

Anemia is not something that you should take lightly. If you do, there is a high possibility for you to come across a variety of negative health consequences. For example, Anemia has been identified as one of the biggest reasons behind premature birth, low birth weight and maternal mortality. Hence, you need to be aware of Anemia in pregnancy, causes of it, the symptoms that can be used to identify it and the possible treatments that you can try out in order to overcome the negative health consequences that you have to deal with.

Causes of Anemia

Anemia in pregnancy can take place due to several reasons. All these reasons create an impact on how many healthy red blood cells are being produced within your body. During the pregnancy, plasma volume will be increased by a significant amount. As a result, the hemoglobin levels would drop. This can impact red blood cells in the long run.

According to healthcare professionals, lack of iron in the food you consume has been identified as one of the biggest reasons behind Anemia in pregnancy. You need to consume a balanced meal, which can cater your iron intake of the body. But if you don’t, your body will become iron deprived, which can lead you towards Anemia. Some women consume a healthy amount of iron, but end up with Anemia because they don’t have the ability to absorb the iron into the body, out of the food that is being consumed.

Pregnancy can increase the risk of Anemia. That’s because there is a high amount of iron needed by the female body during pregnancy in order to increase the overall volume of blood. But when there are no iron supplements, there will not be enough iron available within the body to feed the supply of oxygen to vital organs of the body including uterus. This can also lead women towards Anemia.

Some women bleed heavily during menstruation. Such women have a higher possibility of getting Anemia in pregnancy. That’s because the donation of blood would lead red blood cells within the body to get destroyed at a faster rate, than the rate they are replenished.

Symptoms of Anemia in pregnancy

Now you have a clear understanding about the causes that can lead you towards Anemia in pregnancy. With that in mind, you need to take a look at the symptoms. Then you can easily determine whether you have become a victim of Anemia or not.

The initial symptoms associated with Anemia during pregnancy are mild. Hence, you will barely notice them. But the symptoms will worsen along with time. This is where you will notice the symptoms. But if you are aware of the symptoms, you can detect the health condition early as much as possible. With that, you can effectively minimize the negative consequences that you will have to go through as well.

The common symptoms that are linked with Anemia include dizziness, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, chest pain, irregular or rapid heartbeat, cold feet and hands, pale nails, lips and skin, troubles in concentrating and cold feet and hands.

Sometimes these symptoms can take place due to other health conditions that you get during the pregnancy. Hence, it is important for you to maintain communications along with your doctor and make sure that you get the symptoms just because of Anemia, but not because of any other health condition. Then you will find it as an easy task to proceed with the treatments as well.

Treatments for Anemia

If you notice the above mentioned symptoms of Anemia, you don’t need to worry about anything. That’s because there is a possibility for you to overcome them with the assistance of appropriate treatments. In other words, Anemia in pregnancy can easily be treated along with the assistance of vitamin supplements and iron supplements. You just need to go ahead and include these supplements to your day to day routine. Then you will be able to figure out how the symptoms are going away along with time.

However, there are rare cases, where women with Anemia will be asked to go through blood transfusions. If you are experiencing severe symptoms, you need to go ahead and discuss with your doctor. Then you will be able to get a confirmation whether you really need to go ahead with a blood transfusion or not.

Prevention is always better than cure. There are some effective methods, which you will be able to follow in order to stay prevented from Anemia as well. For example, you can think about increasing the iron intake through the food that you consume. You can include more leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, kale and broccoli for that. In addition, you need to think about adding nuts and seeds to the meals as well. Then you will be able to make sure that you are catering all the iron requirements of your body through healthy food sources and there is no possibility for your body to end up with an iron deficiency. Hence, you can overcome Anemia in pregnancy as well.