Perhaps not only aging. It may be anemia.

Gary Sergot felt bored all the time. He said, “I am tired, less breathless, a kind of distress.” He was cold even in warm days and looked pale with dark circles under his eyes.

His illness was not mysterious. As a retired anesthesiologist, Sergut knew that he was suffering from anemia, a lack of red blood cells. In his case, it was the result of a genetic condition that caused almost a nose bleeding daily and exhausted hemoglobin, protein in red blood cells that serve oxygen throughout the body.

But in consulting doctors about his tiredness, he found that many did not know how to help. Sergout, who lives in Westminster, Maryland, advised to take iron tablets, usually the first treatment of anemia.

But like many elderly people, he found a daily system of four to six difficult tablets. Some patients who take iron complain of severe constipation or stomach cramps. Sergot felt “nausea all the time”. Iron tablets do not always work.

Nearly 15 years, he found a solution. Michael Euerbach, a hematologist and oncologist who is the co -manager of the Cancer Center and Blood Disorders in Baltimore, suggested that Sergut Iron I iron instead of the mouth.

Now Sergut, 78, gets an hour to pump when hemoglobin levels and other signs show that he needs one, usually three times a year. He said: “It is like filling the gas tank.” Its symptoms recede, and “I feel satisfied.”

However, his story reflects the repeated separation of a common condition, not only can reduce the quality of the life of older adults, but also lead to serious health consequences, including fall, fractures and residence in the hospital.

The symptoms of anemia – fatigue, headache, legs and cold, and low ability to exercise, brain fog – are attributed to aging itself. (Some people with anemia are still without symptoms.)

“People say,” I feel weak, but everyone in my life feels weak. “

Although it is possible that the hemoglobin levels are possible in their patients’ records, as part of the full number of blood, or CBC, are routinely requested during medical visits, doctors often fail to identify anemia.

He said: “Patients come to the clinic and get blood tests, and nothing happens.”

Anemia affects 12.5 % of people over 60 years old, according to The latest survey data From the national survey to examine health and nutrition, the rate increased after that.

But this underestimation may be.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Aging Medicine Association, Erfler and his colleagues examined the e -health records of about 2000 outpatient clinics for more than 65 years in Innova, a large health system in North Virginia recently.

Based on the results of the blood test, the spread of anemia was much higher: about 1 of 5 patients were anemiaWith hemoglobin levels less than usual as determined by the World Health Organization.

However, only about a third of these patients had properly documented paragraphs in their medical plans.

“The anemia deserves our attention, but it does not always get it,” said George Kochill, an old age doctor at the University of Connecticut, who was not surprised by the results.

This is partly because anemia contains many reasons, some of which are more treatment than others. Perhaps in a third of cases, it arises from a dietary deficiency – Iron deficiency is usuallyBut sometimes vitamin B12 or folic acid (folic acid is called artificial form).

The elderly may have reduced appetite or struggle to shop for food and prepare meals. But anemia can also follow blood loss from ulcers, benign tumors, diabetes, and other reasons for internal bleeding.

Surgery can also lead to iron deficiency. Mary Dagdold, 83, a retired library secretary in Paxfil, Maryland, underwent three abdominal operations in 2019. She remained bed for weeks and then needed the nutrition tube for several months. Even after he healed, “anemia did not disappear,” she said.

She remembers the feeling of permanent exhaustion. “I knew that I was not thinking about the way I usually thought.” “I couldn’t read a novel.” The primary care doctor and Europe advised that iron by mouth is unlikely to help.

Iron tablets, available on the meter, inexpensive. Auerbach said the venous iron, which has become a wider scale, could cost $ 350 to $ 2,400 per pumping process according to the formula.

Some patients find one dose sufficient, while others will need regular treatment. Covered by Medicare when it is difficult to withstand tablets or ineffective.

For Dagold, intravenous iron pumping for 25 minutes every five weeks or so has caused an amazing difference. She said, “It takes a few days, then you feel you are fine enough to clarify your daily life,” she said. It has returned to the aerobics category for four days a week.

In other cases, anemia arises from chronic cases such as heart disease, kidney failure, bone marrow disorders, or inflammatory bowel diseases.

“These people do not lack iron, but they are unable to treat it to make red blood cells,” Kochill said. Since iron supplements will not be effective, doctors try to treat anemia by treating patients with patients.

“Iron loss can be the first harbinger of colon and stomach cancer.”.

In about a third of patients, anemia remains Non -interpreted. “We have done everything, and we have no idea why this,” he said.

Learn more about the causes of anemia and treatments may prevent a lot of misery on the road. Besides its association with fall and fractures, anemia can increase the severity of chronic diseases – the heart, lung, kidney and liver. “If it is really severe and hemoglobin goes to life -threatening levels, this may cause a heart attack or stroke.”

However, among the unknown, whether the treatment of anemia is early and the restoration of natural hemoglobin will prevent subsequent diseases. However, “Things are happening in this field,” Erfler said, referring to a national institute of aging A workshop on unjustified anemia Last year.

The American Blood Association appointed a committee Iron Diagnosis and Treatment He plans to publish new instructions next year. Iron Federation at the Oregon University of Health and Science held an international committee for iron deficiency management and recently She published her recommendations In the science of Lancet.

Meanwhile, many older patients can reach their CBC results and thus their hemoglobin levels. the The World Health Organization determines 13 grams of hemoglobin per decelter as usual for men, and 12 for non -pregnant women (although some blood doctors argue that these thresholds are very low).

The question of healthcare providers about the levels of hemoglobin and iron, or the use of the patient’s gate to verify the numbers themselves, can help patients to direct conversations with their doctors away from fatigue or other symptoms as inevitable results for aging.

It may be signs of anemia, and may be treatmentable.

“There are possibilities,” Kochill said. ” “If your hemoglobin is fine, great.

But he added, “If the matter is really outside the normal borders, or it is changed compared to a year ago, then you need to ask questions.”

The new aging is produced by partnership with New York Times.