Anemia can be fairly common and millions of people deal with the condition. Getting a diagnosis of anemia, since it’s so common, might not seem like it’s a problem, but it can be if you ignore it.

Anemia is a medical condition in which the body doesn’t have as many red blood cells as it needs. For whatever reason, the person is not producing enough or there’s a reduction in production.

A person can have anemia if there isn’t enough hemoglobin. This is the protein that colors the blood cells and this is the protein that has the iron the body needs. Hemoglobin enables the red blood cells to do their job.

Your red blood cells provide important duties throughout the body. They work to bring oxygen where it’s needed and they take away carbon dioxide. If they don’t have enough hemoglobin, they can’t properly take the oxygen through the body. Continue reading →

Although anemia is a medical condition, it’s an umbrella term housing different types of conditions, meaning low red blood cell count or low hemoglobin. The different types of anemia can range from mild and easily treated to severe and life threatening.

Because the various types of anemia can exist in the body silently, it’s often undiagnosed until bothersome or health threatening symptoms show up. The four main causes for anemia development are iron deficiency, a lack of vitamins, a genetic form of anemia – or a form where the red blood cells are destroyed (such as by an autoimmune condition). Continue reading →