I can't breathe. Am I going to die? (By Dora Prevost)

When I was younger I rarely got sick. I vaguely remember that one time I got the flu and had to be placed under the nebulizer because I had extreme wheezing and breathing difficulties. However that was short lived. I had a really high metabolism back then and would eat to my heart’s content and gained nothing. A knack many people admired but I detest. I literally weighed just above 85 pounds in 2nd form and did not gain much until my final year of secondary school but overall I was a healthy, agile young individual. 

Changes in my body became apparent in college. I gained a significant amount of weight which was a plus but on the downside I always felt fatigue and had really intense headaches.  If that was not bad enough my skin became extremely pale, especially in the facial region and I had difficulty focusing in class and felt extremely lightheaded when I moved around.  I brushed off the symptoms and assumed that they were due to an increase work load, lack of sleep since I was a double major at the time and the fact that I had gained weight.  Silly me!!

Fast forward a few months, while studying for final exams I felt an intense pain in my chest, an ache which had became a norm for me, along with breathing difficulties.  However this time, it was INTENSE!!! Breathing was no longer involuntary.  I felt like I was going to die…  A doctor visit and a few tests later confirmed that I had a condition called Iron Deficiency Anemia. 

So much for being healthy…

Iron deficiency is a nutritional deficiency that leads to anemia. Iron deficiency anemia is a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells.  This could be due to internal bleeding, pregnancy, loss of blood due to menstruation, inability to absorb iron or in my case inadequate iron intake.  As the name implies, iron deficiency anemia is due to insufficient iron in the body.  Iron is important because the body uses it to produce a substance called hemoglobin which is found in the red blood cells. It carries oxygen through the body.  Inadequate iron means, hemoglobin is not being produced as it should, hence oxygen is not carried throughout the body at its precise rate.

That explains my breathing difficulties.

                   

              Depiction of Normal red blood cells (left) and Iron Deficient red blood cells (right)

American Society of Hematology states that;

 Red blood cell (RBC) count and hemoglobin concentration are important clinical data because they determine the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Hemoglobin concentration of whole blood is normally 13 to 18 grams per deciliter (g/dL) in men and 12 to 16 g/dL in women. Red blood cell count in men is approximately 4.7 to 6.1 million cells/ul (microlitre). The normal range in women is 4.2 to 5.4 million cells/ul

My hemoglobin levels were 7 grams per deciliter (g/dL) which was pretty low. 

The signs and symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia depend on its severity. Mild to moderate iron-deficiency anemia may have no signs or symptoms.  However if they do arise, it would include the following:

Iron deficiency cannot be corrected overnight. The goals of treating iron-deficiency anemia are to treat its underlying cause and restore normal levels of red blood cells, hemoglobin, and iron. Luckily, iron supplements and a change in diet can correct low iron levels within months.