The child always complains of dizziness

If our blood sugar is low, we will often experience dizziness. Similarly, some diseases can also cause dizziness. We cannot judge what disease we have based on dizziness, so we can only go to the hospital for examination. If the child always complains of dizziness and the parents can judge that it is not caused by hunger, it is best to get a check-up.

Initial consideration is that the child has iron deficiency anemia, so a balanced diet combining meat and vegetables is recommended.

When the body's demand for iron is out of balance with its supply, it leads to depletion of stored iron (ID), followed by intraerythrocyte iron deficiency (IDE), and ultimately causes iron deficiency anemia (IDA). IDA is the final stage of iron deficiency (including ID, IDE, and IDA), manifested by microcytic hypochromic anemia and other abnormalities caused by iron deficiency. IDA is the most common anemia. Its incidence rate is significantly higher in developing countries, economically underdeveloped areas, and among infants, young children, and women of childbearing age. A population survey in Shanghai showed that the annual incidence of iron deficiency was 75.0% to 82.5% in infants aged 6 months to 2 years, 66.7% in women who were pregnant for more than 3 months, 43.3% in women of childbearing age, and 13.2% in adolescents aged 10 to 17 years. The prevalence of IDA in the above populations was 33.8% to 45.7%, 19.3%, 11.4%, and 9.8%, respectively. Iron deficiency is mainly related to the following factors: insufficient complementary feeding for infants and young children, picky eating among adolescents, excessive menstrual flow/multiple pregnancies/breastfeeding in women and certain pathological factors (such as subtotal gastrectomy, chronic blood loss, chronic diarrhea, atrophic gastritis and hookworm infection, etc.).

Causes

1. Increased iron requirements and insufficient iron intake

It is more common in infants, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women. Infants and young children need more iron. If they are not supplemented with complementary foods high in iron, such as eggs and meat, they are likely to suffer from iron deficiency. Teenagers with picky eating habits are prone to iron deficiency. Women's iron needs increase when they have heavier menstruation, are pregnant or breastfeeding. If they do not supplement with high-iron foods, they are likely to develop IDA.

2. Iron Absorption Impairment

It is common after subtotal gastrectomy, when gastric acid secretion is insufficient and food quickly enters the jejunum, bypassing the main site of iron absorption (duodenum), reducing iron absorption. In addition, gastrointestinal dysfunction caused by various reasons, such as long-term unexplained diarrhea, chronic enteritis, Crohn's disease, etc., can all lead to IDA due to iron absorption disorders.

3. Excessive iron loss

Chronic, long-term iron loss that is not corrected results in IDA. Such as: chronic gastrointestinal bleeding (including hemorrhoids, gastroduodenal ulcer, hiatal hernia, gastrointestinal polyps, gastrointestinal tumors, parasitic infections, esophageal/gastric varicose vein rupture, etc.), excessive menstrual flow (intrauterine contraceptive ring, uterine fibroids and menstrual disorders and other gynecological diseases), hemoptysis and alveolar hemorrhage (pulmonary hemosiderosis, Goodpasture's hemorrhage-nephritis syndrome, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, lung cancer, etc.), hemoglobinuria (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, cold antibody-type autoimmune hemolysis, artificial heart valves, march hemoglobinuria, etc.) and others (hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, chronic renal failure with hemodialysis, multiple blood donations, etc.).