Serious Signs Anemic Individuals Often Exhibit

Unusually Fast Heartbeat

An unusually fast heartbeat (tachycardia) is a common manifestation in anemic individuals. Anemia occurs when an individual's body does not have enough healthy red blood cells to carry out their function of oxygen delivery. Because anemia causes the blood to have an inadequate oxygen concentration, the tissues around the body do not receive the amount of oxygen they need. In order to carry out their specialized cellular functions that make organs work, the cells require cellular energy or ATP. Adequate amounts of ATP can only be produced when enough oxygen is delivered to the cell.

The brain of an anemia patient can detect there is not enough cellular energy, and sends signals to the heart to compensate for the poor oxygen concentration of the blood. The heart then begins to beat faster and harder in an attempt to pump oxygen-poor blood into the lungs and back out to the tissues around the body quicker and more effectively. Tachycardia caused by anemia is a symptom that does not typically occur intermittently. Therefore, a consistent elevated baseline heart rate at rest can indicate the presence of anemia.

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Leg Cramps

Patients affected by anemia tend to experience frequent leg cramps. The red blood cells in anemic individuals cannot carry and deliver sufficient quantities of oxygen to cells around the body. Various types of cells with differentiated functions are unable to do their jobs because they do not receive enough oxygen to produce cellular energy for their processes. In order for the muscles to contract and relax properly, several processes have to occur in tandem to produce a muscle movement.

The impulse from the brain that initiates a muscle movement must reach the nerves that connect to the muscle cells. The muscle cells then use cellular energy or ATP to carry out the full contraction and relaxation of the muscle fibers. When there are low levels of ATP in the muscular cells, they may have enough energy to induce a muscle contraction. However, the muscle cells in anemic individuals do not always have enough ATP to induce the opposite mechanism to relax the muscle. The muscle remains in the contracted position for longer than usual, resulting in an extremely uncomfortable or painful sensation in the area of the affected muscle. This malfunction is more likely to occur in the larger muscles around the body that are further away from the heart, which is why the cramps from anemia occur most often in the legs.

Keep reading to learn more about how to identify if one has anemia now.