Hemolytic Anemia

Hemolytic Anemia – General Information

Hemolytic Anemia – Symptoms

This kind of disorder can trigger a variety of symptoms that may be different from a patient to another. They are confirmed by the personal medical care specialist and they include: a pale skin, dark urine occurs after a transfusion if the blood is incompatible, confusion, weakness to different physical activity, enlarged liver and spleen, dizziness, heart palpitations. The medical specialist will put you for some tests to confirm whether it is a congenital or an inherited disease. If the patient has an acquired Hemolytic Anemia the red blood cells are healthy cells but something destroys them later on (during their life span): they are trapped in the spleen, by drugs and / or by a certain infection. These types of anemias are eventually associated with some other medical conditions, like autoimmune disorders (this means that the immune system attacks the cells and rejects them. Jaundice appears when a certain increase of bilirubin in hemolysis. Hemolytic Anemia occurs in liver disease, hereditary liver disorders and biliary obstruction. Bilirubin phases are bigger than 4mg/dL in this kind of disease. Splenomegaly appears in hereditary spherocytosis and other Hemolytic Anemia but it is not present in the deficiency of G-6-PD. The presence of splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy indicates an acute lymphocytic leukemia. Arthritis and butterfly malar rash arthritis suggests a systemical lupus erythematosus. The patient feels an easy fatigue and lack of energy; palpitation of the heart; he also has a hard breath and complains of headaches; he finds it hard to concentrate. These signs may appear when a mother gives life to a child and it is often called a type of anemia concerning iron deficiency because of the menstruation; it causes a blood loss and during pregnancy the body requests for a supply of blood.

Hemolytic Anemia- Treatment

A certain specific treatment for Hemolytic Anemia is determined by your personal health specialist based on: overall health, your age, and medical history; cause and extent of the illness, tolerance for procedures, medications, or therapies and it is difficult to cure. The treatment includes some of these specifications: medication with various types of vitamin supplements, changes in your diet, medication for the illness that caused this kind of anemia, even splenectomy (a procedure that consists in the extraction of the patient’s spleen). The appropriate treatment for this medical condition depends on the gravity of the illness and of the anemia. It is known that this medical disorder threatens the individual’s life if it is not dealt with in due time. A few ways to treat Hemolytic Anemia include blood transfusions (especially when the illness is in a sever stage); this procedures requires extra attention on the type of blood that the individual receives, as it must match the patient’s blood. The individual has to be monitored for a possible resize of iron in body. Some medicines like prednisone and corticosteroid are widely used to suppress immunity against the red blood cells. Another drugs called Rituximab and Eculizumab are experimented for the AIHA to suppress the immunity of the cells which produce antibodies against the red blood cells. The plasmapheresis is a process that removes antibodies from the red cells and it helps when another treatment does not have a positive or a fast effect. Bone marrow and stem cell transplant may work in some desperate cases of patients with Hemolytic Anemia, as they are generally able to increase the number of red blood cells in most patients who undergo this medical procedure (transplant). Marrow is assigned through a large vein and the stem cells are taken from the umbilical cord blood and from the marrow that is donated by a member of the patient’s family or from a matching donator. The new stem cells form mature red blood cells.

If you change your lifestyle you might notice an improvement in your medical condition (Hemolytic Anemia). You might find the useful measures quite helpful and also effective: you must avoid cold temperatures that prevent hemolysis of the red cells; you have to protect the fingers, the ears, the toes from cold air. Another typical way to deal with your condition is to wear some gloves when you pick up the food from the freezer or the refrigerator, wear a scarf, a coat or a scarf on a cold weather, do not use air conditioning and warm up your car when you drive in a cold weather. For further information, we advise you to seek professional help at the nearest clinical setting. Your doctor will be happy to provide you with the information that you need.