How serious can iron deficiency anemia get?
Can you end up in the hospital from being really weak from it and dehydrated? Can you pass out? Can jaundice occur with iron deficient anemia? Any answers greatly appreciated.
Why do patients suffering from anemia generally not exhibit an increase in respiratory rate or tidal vol.?
An increase in respiratory rate or tidal volume may effect the abount of oxygen in the blood. Anemia is not the result of a lack of oxygen, it is the result of blood cells that carry oxygen. The lack of blood carrying oxygen is a symptom, not a disease in an of itself. It can be caused by many things including an insufficient number of red blood cells, a low hemoglobin content and abnormal hemoglobin, just to name a few.
Arterial Oxygen Content for anemic patient?
Arterial Oxygen Content for anemic patient? Suppose we have an anemic patient with hemoglobin of 7g/dl. Assuming the same arterial oxygen saturation of 98% and partial pressure or 100mmHg, what is this patient's arterial oxygen content (in mL O2/100mL blood) Thanks!
If a non-anemic patient has an acute hemorrhage, will their oxygen saturation be normal?
Oxygen saturation is a measure of how much oxygen each hemoglobin molecule is carrying, but NOT an indication of how much total oxygen the blood is carrying. You can have 100% oxygen saturation but if you have five grams of hemoglobin (per 100 ml) you will have one third the total amount of oxygen that you would have at 15 grams/100 ml.If you are not anemic and fluid is replaced, essentially salt water, so that you can have enough volume to maintain blood pressure and therefore organ perfusion, and you lose one-third of your hemoglobin, you will be down one-third of your oxygen carrying capacity.The same with the partial pressure of oxygen - an oxygen partial pressure of, say, 150 Torr in five grams of hemoglobin is still a third of the amount of oxygen in 15 grams. Increasing the oxygen pressure doesn’t help much since most of the rest of the blood is water and oxygen does not dissolve well in water, so increasing pO2 to 300 Torr does NOT double the amount of oxygen in the blood. You may very well have 100% saturation at 150 Torr. Increasing the pressure to 300 Torr will dissolve some more oxygen in the serum, but not much.Of course, saying the rest of the blood is water is a simplification, there are platelets and proteins, etc, but these do not bind significant quantities of oxygen. There is no substitute for hemoglobin if you want to move oxygen around in the body (which you definitely do!).
Why are arterial PO2 and percent saturation of hemoglobin normal in anemia?
The oxygen status of arterial human blood is described at least by four variables:Oxygen partial pressure (pO2, mmHg),Oxygen saturation (sO2, %),Haemoglobin (Hb) content (cHb, g/dL) andOxygen content (cO2, mL/dL).In arterial blood, Oxygen partial pressure (pO2) is the result of O2 diffusion within the lungs into the blood (lung function).Oxygen saturation (sO2) describes the portion of chemically bound oxygen expressed as O2Hb in relation to total Hb (Hb + O2Hb + COHb + MetHb).Oxygen content is the total amount of oxygen in the blood, chemically bound to Hb plus physically dissolved in plasma.In anaemia, there is a reduced number of red blood cells and haemoglobin, but the cells that are present, are fully saturated. Hence, anaemia with a decrease in the haemoglobin content, lowers cO2 only, while pO2 and sO2 remain normal (anaemic hypoxemia).
If Sickle Cell Anemia is caused by a depletion of oxygen in blood cells why aren't hyperbaric chambers used as a common treatment?
You’re confusing the manifestation of sickle cell, low oxygen carrying capacity with the cause of sickle cell, which is misshapen blood cells, hence the name “sickle cell” anemia.The long and short of it is that several different mutations can induce sickle cell anemia, and each of these mutations is capable of inducing the red blood cell to adopt a different shape. This shape is important in oxygen carrying capacity, and it’s the shape of RBC that causes a lack of oxygen, not that the lack of oxygen causes sickle cell. Hyperbaric chambers aren’t a real solution to a problem such as this. For one thing, excess oxygen isn’t without it’s own problems; the reactivity of oxygen is exactly what makes it a useful and slightly dangerous molecule. Damage to cells and other things isn’t called oxidation by chance.Many people with sickle cell can live relatively normal lives, and only experience difficulties during times of high oxygen demand. Given this, spending the days whiling away in a hyperbaric chamber doesn’t represent a real solution to this issue.
Why do anemic patient easily faint when performing vigrous activities?
Because they have a low RBC count, and so there's less haemoglobin for oxygen to attach to (oxyhaemoglobin) and so the working muscles aren't able to get the required amount of oxygen, leading to oxygen deficit. i don't know if this is the exact reason, but it makes sense. I used to be anaemic, I never had a problem with exercise.
What if an anaemic person drinks blood instead of intravenous infusion?
Anaemia means there is a deficiency of oxygen carrying capacity in the blood. It might be either due to reduced Red Blood Cells (RBCs)-responsible for carrying oxygen in blood- or reduced haemoglobin-the iron based chemical which enables the RBCs to carry oxygen.When anaemia is so severe that the patient’s body cannot sustain the normal metabolic functions or if there is a major surgery that needs to be done, blood transfusion is the way that can be accomplished.There is a reason blood transfusion is given via an intravenous line directly into the veins and not ingested as the question is suggesting. That is because blood ingested does not reach the blood stream- at least not in it’s intended form. The blood if ingested, when it reaches the stomach is acted upon by the stomach acid and the intestinal bile to become digested blood from which iron and other nutrients are extracted and make it into blood later. This is a terribly inefficient way to improve the condition of the patient with anaemia. There is no way any legitimate blood bank, doctor or hospital would let such a thing happen.If you really want to consume blood, do not waste human blood on those experiments. I suggest any other animal blood if you want to be the mythical vampire. I hear Blood Pudding made from sheep, porcine or bovine blood is quite the delicacy- and it does the same job human blood does when ingested.Image source: Blood Pudding Stock Photos & Blood Pudding Stock Images