Team members

Names / Roles:

• []      Aisyah
• []      Harith Danial
• []      Nasrullah
• []      Shahzuan

Meaning / Defined

Iron is used to produce red blood cells, which help store and carry oxygen in the blood. If you have fewer red blood cells than is normal, your organs and tissues will not get as much oxygen as they usually would.

There are several different types of anaemia and each one has a different cause, although iron deficiency anaemia is the most common type.

Causes and Effects

Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body.

A lack of iron can be caused by several factors. Some of the most common causes of iron deficiency anaemia are outlined below.

Signs and Symptoms

The severity of these symptoms largely depends on how quickly your anaemia develops. You may only notice few symptoms or they may develop gradually if your anaemia is caused by a long-term problem, such as a stomach ulcer.

Prevention and Treatment

Your GP will prescribe an iron supplement to restore the iron missing from your body. The most commonly prescribed supplement is ferrous sulphate, which is taken as a tablet two or three times a day.

Some people can experience side effects when taking iron supplements, including:

• abdominal (tummy) pain
• constipation or diarrhoea
• heartburn
• feeling sick
• black stools (faeces)

Link to Other Illnesses or Diseases

The severity of these symptoms largely depends on how quickly your anaemia develops. You may only notice few symptoms or they may develop gradually if your anaemia is caused by a long-term problem, such as a stomach ulcer.

The most common symptoms include:

• tiredness and lethargy (lack of energy)
• shortness of breath
• heart palpitations (noticeable heartbeats)
• a pale complexion

References

Plagiarism is a strongly discouraged.

In this section, include the links of all websites you obtained information from to complete your health science wiki page.

For example:

WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/)