Iron deficiency anemia: symptoms, diagnosis
What're symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia?
The most common symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia is pallor, fatigue and weakness. Other symptoms may include:
- abnormal paleness or lack of color of the skin
- breathlessness
- irritability
- dizziness or a feeling of being lightheaded
- increased heart rate (tachycardia)
- sore or swollen tongue
- enlarged spleen
- decreased appetite
- disturbed sleep
- a desire to eat peculiar substances such as dirt or ice
Infant and children with iron-deficiency anemia have some symptoms may:
- Be fussy
- Have a short attention span
- Grow more slowly than normal
- Develop skills, such as walking and talking, later than normal
How is diagnosis of iron-deficiency anemia?
Talk to your doctor if you think you might have anemia. Your doctor will ask you questions about your symptoms. Because IDA symptoms, such as fatigue and decreased appetite, are common to many conditions, the doctor will need any blood test for you to confirm a diagnosis.
Complete Blood Count. Complete blood count (CBC) may reveal low hemoglobin levels and low hematocrit (the percentage of the blood made up of red blood cells). The CBC also checks the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in your blood. Abnormal results may be a sign of infection, a blood disorder. Finally, the CBC looks at mean corpuscular volume. MCV is a measure of the average size of your red blood cells. In iron-deficiency anemia, red blood cells usually are smaller than normal.
The reticulocyte count measures the number of immature red blood cells being produced. In IDA, this test indicates that the rate at which RBC are being made is lower than expected from the low amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
Serum iron directly measures the amount of iron in the blood, but may not accurately reflect how much iron is concentrated in the body's cells.
Serum ferritin reflects total body iron stores. Ferritin is a protein that helps store iron in your body. A measure of this protein helps your doctor find out how much of your body's stored iron has been used up.
Additional diagnostic tests for Gastrointestinal Blood Loss: Endoscopy and Colonoscopy. Doctors use endoscopy to check for bleeding from a hiatal hernia, bleeding ulcers and stomach bleeding. This allows your doctor to view your esophagus, upper stomach, and colon or pelvic organs. Colonoscopy use for rule out lower intestinal sources of bleeding, this allows your doctor to view some or all of your colon and rectum to look for internal bleeding.