Symptoms of Dying from Anemia

Health Line

15 hours ago

Key takeaways
Anemia is a condition where you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body. It can be temporary or chronic, and while often mild, it can become serious and life threatening.
Symptoms of life threatening anemia may include: loss of consciousness, stroke, heart failure, respiratory failure, and kidney failure. Mild anemia may show no symptoms, but severe cases can manifest gradually or suddenly.
Treating severe anemia takes more than just diet and lifestyle changes, although eating lots of iron-rich foods can help your body make more red blood cells. Treatment often involves addressing the underlying cause, with options like blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants, and medications.
Anemia is a condition where you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body. Anemia can be temporary or long term (chronic). In many cases it's mild, but anemia can also be serious and life threatening.
Doctors can help treat many types of anemia, though some chronic types may require continual monitoring and management.
Untreated anemia can cause severe complications.
Keep reading to learn about the types of anemia that can become life threatening and what the symptoms are.
What are the symptoms of anemia?
Symptoms of life threatening anemia may include:
loss of consciousness
stroke
heart failure
respiratory failure
kidney failure
Mild anemia may not cause any symptoms. But if your anemia is severe or life threatening, you may develop symptoms gradually or suddenly.
Symptoms of anemia can include:
fatigue
cold hands and feet
dizziness
headache
lightheadedness
irregular heartbeat
chest pain
pale or yellowish skin
shortness of breath
weakness
whooshing sound or pounding in your ears
If you have severe anemia, these symptoms may be more pronounced. You may also have symptoms specific to the condition underlying anemia. These might include:
dark urine
unintentional weight loss
numbness or tingling
How does anemia become life threatening?
Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout your body. When you don't have enough red blood cells, your organs don't get enough oxygen and can't work properly. This can have severe consequences.
Types of anemia that can potentially be life threatening include:
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia occurs when the bone marrow becomes damaged and the body stops producing new blood cells. It can be sudden or worsen over time.
Common causes include:
cancer treatment
exposure to toxic chemicals
pregnancy
autoimmune disease
viral infections
It can also have no known cause, which is referred to as idiopathic aplastic anemia.
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is a rare, life threatening disease. It causes blood clots, destroys blood cells, and impairs bone marrow function. It's a genetic condition, with the median age of diagnosis in the 30s.
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is related to aplastic anemia. It often starts as aplastic anemia or arises after treatment for the condition.
Myelodysplastic syndromes
Myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of conditions that cause the blood-making cells in your bone marrow to become abnormal. Your bone marrow then doesn't make enough cells, and the cells it does make are generally defective. These cells die earlier and are more likely to be destroyed by your immune system.
Myelodysplastic syndromes are considered a type of cancer. They may turn into acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer.
Hemolytic anemia
Hemolytic anemia is when your red blood cells are destroyed faster than your body can make them. It can be temporary or chronic.
Hemolytic anemia can also be inherited, which means it's passed down through your genes. It can also be acquired.
Potential causes of acquired hemolytic anemia include:
infection
certain medications, such as penicillin
blood cancers
autoimmune disorders
an overactive spleen
some tumors
severe reaction to a blood transfusion
Sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease is an inherited type of anemia. It causes your red blood cells to change shape. They become sickle-shaped, rigid, and sticky. This causes them to get stuck in small blood vessels, which blocks blood flow throughout your body, depriving tissue of oxygen.
Sickle cell disease is more common in people with descent or origin from:
Africa
the Middle East
the Mediterranean
Central and South America
South Asia
Sickle cell disease causes very painful episodes, swelling, and frequent infections.
Severe thalassemia
Thalassemia is an inherited condition in which your body doesn't make enough hemoglobin. This is a protein that's a crucial part of red blood cells. Without enough hemoglobin, your red blood cells don't work properly and die more quickly than healthy cells.
Thalassemia can be mild or severe. It becomes severe if you inherit two copies of the gene that causes it.
Malarial anemia
Malarial anemia is a main symptom of severe malaria. Many factors can contribute to its development, including:
nutritional deficiencies
bone marrow problems
the malaria parasite entering red blood cells
Fanconi anemia
Fanconi anemia is a genetic condition that impairs bone marrow and causes you to have a lower-than-normal amount of all types of blood cells.
It often causes physical differences, such as:
malformed thumbs or forearms
problems with bone structure
changes in kidney shape or missing kidney
gastrointestinal changes
fertility issues
vision and hearing problems
Fanconi anemia can also cause an increased risk of leukemia as well as head, neck, skin, reproductive, and gastrointestinal cancers.
What causes life threatening anemia?
Anemia happens when your body doesn't make enough blood cells, your body destroys your red blood cells, or the red blood cells it does make are a different shape.
For anemia to be life threatening, you typically have a low number of red blood cells. This can affect the ability to deliver oxygen to the different parts of your body.
Functioning red blood cells may decrease over time until their low number becomes serious. But sometimes, you can lose red blood cells quickly.
Some types of anemia can also cause severe complications that can be life threatening.
Different causes of anemia include:
Genetics
Some conditions that cause anemia are inherited, which means they are passed down through one or both parents through your genes. These conditions include:
sickle cell disease
thalassemia
some hemolytic anemias
Fanconi anemia
paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
Bleeding
Severe bleeding can cause sudden anemia. For example, this might happen after a traumatic injury where you lose a lot of blood.
Cancer
Cancers of the blood, lymphatic system, and bone marrow can cause anemia. Examples include:
aplastic anemia
some hemolytic anemias
myelodysplastic syndromes
Diseases
Acquired diseases, including malaria, can cause anemia. Other infections can cause aplastic anemia or hemolytic anemia. Autoimmune diseases are also a potential cause of anemia, as they may cause your body to attack red blood cells.
How is anemia diagnosed?
To diagnose anemia, a doctor will typically ask for your family and medical history. Then they may do a physical exam. After that, a healthcare professional typically draws blood for several tests. The most common include:
complete blood count (CBC) to count the number of red blood cells and the amount of hemoglobin in your blood
tests to look at the size and shape of your red blood cells
Once a doctor diagnoses anemia, they may do more testing to see whether they can find the underlying cause of anemia. This may include:
blood tests for iron and vitamin B deficiencies
bone marrow test to see how well your body makes red blood cells
check for internal bleeding
scans to check for tumors
What is the treatment for serious anemia?
Treating severe anemia takes more than just diet and lifestyle changes, although eating lots of iron-rich foods can help your body make more red blood cells.
Sometimes, treating anemia requires treating the underlying cause. Examples include:
chemotherapy for myelodysplastic syndrome
eculizumab (Soliris) for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, which keeps your body from destroying red blood cells
immunosuppressants for some types of aplastic anemia and hemolytic anemias
In all types of anemia, blood transfusions can help replace lost or defective red blood cells and reduce symptoms. However, it usually does not address the underlying cause. Some people may need multiple transfusions over time.
A bone marrow transplant or a stem cell transplant may be an option if you can't make healthy red blood cells. In this procedure, cells from a donor's bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood are given through a vein, similar to a blood transfusion.
This is the only cure for some types of anemia, such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
What is the outlook for people with serious anemia?
Anemia, in general, causes 1.6 deaths per 100,000 people in the United States annually. It's usually treatable if caught quickly, although some types are chronic, which means they need continual treatment.
The outlook for people with serious anemia can depend on the cause:
Aplastic anemia
In some cases, a bone marrow transplant can cure aplastic anemia. In others, medications can reduce symptoms but aren't a cure.
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
Current treatments have increased the survival time for most people with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria to over 10 years from diagnosis. Factors such as age and other health conditions can affect a person's outlook.
Myelodysplastic syndromes
With treatment, people with low risk myelodysplastic syndromes typically live as long as people without them. You can talk with a doctor to learn about your specific prognostic score.
Hemolytic anemias
The outlook for people with hemolytic anemias depends on the underlying cause. Hemolytic anemia itself is rarely fatal, especially if treated early and properly, but the underlying conditions can be.
Sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease decreases life expectancy. People with this condition typically live to 54 years old on average.
However, newer treatments, including newer drugs, gene therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplants, may improve the outlook of people with sickle cell disease.
Severe thalassemia
Severe thalassemia can cause death due to heart complications, but better treatments have improved the outlook for people who have it. Treatment involves regular blood transfusions and therapy to remove excess iron from your blood.
Malarial anemia
If diagnosed and treated quickly, malaria is usually curable. However, severe malaria, which is what causes anemia, is a medical emergency.
The mortality rate for severe malaria varies widely, from 9.7% to 50%, depending on factors such as age, location, other presenting conditions, and overall health.
Fanconi anemia