7 Common medicine prescribed by doctors

Anemia is a condition characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to various body tissues. Anemia itself has many types, so the type of treatment needed may also be different. In addition to relieving symptoms, this blood deficiency drug also aims to prevent complications that may occur due to anemia.

What are the drugs to treat anemia?

According to the cause of anemia, here is a list of medicines that your doctor may prescribe:

1. Drinking medicine for anemia

The most common drug used to treat iron deficiency anemia is iron supplements. Your doctor may recommend some blood-boosting vitamins, such as iron or vitamin C supplements.

You can take iron supplements in an effort to increase blood when you are diagnosed with anemia. However, you should consult first to find out what dosage is right for you. To treat this type of anemia, it is generally recommended that adults take 100-200 mg of iron supplements every day.

Meanwhile, for other types of anemia, namely anemia deficiency of B12 and folic acid, the doctor can prescribe a multivitamin that contains both.

This medicine can be used to treat blood deficiency caused by insufficient intake of nutrients from food, blood loss, certain diseases, pregnancy, indigestion, and other conditions.

2. Iron injections

If you still experience symptoms of anemia, even after taking iron supplements, your doctor will schedule iron injections or infusions.

During this anemia treatment, your doctor will monitor your red blood cell count, including the level of hematocrit, hemoglobin, and ferritin. In cases of very life-threatening iron deficiency anemia, treatment may involve a blood transfusion.

Meanwhile, for injectable drugs for anemia due to deficiency of vitamin B12 and folic acid, the doctor will give hydroxocobalamin and cyanocobalamin. Hydroxocobalamin is generally recommended because the effect lasts longer in the body. The injections can be given every other day for every 2 weeks or until your symptoms begin to improve.

3. Antibiotic or antiviral drugs

Children who have sickle cell anemia can be prescribed the antibiotic penicillin by a doctor. This medication works to help prevent infections, such as pneumonia, which can be life threatening to a baby or young child.

Adults can also be given this medicine if the spleen has been removed or has pneumonia. Antibiotics are needed because the removed or problematic spleen organ no longer filters blood optimally. This makes the risk of bacterial infection in the body increase so antibiotics must be anticipated.

Antibiotics and antivirals are also likely to be given in the treatment of aplastic anemia. The reason is, this condition can weaken the immune system because the number of white blood cells to fight viruses or bacteria in your body is small. This condition is prone to causing you to get an infection.

4. Hydroxyurea

The usual hydroxyurea drug is given to reduce pain and reduce the need for blood transfusions in patients with one type of anemia, namely sickle cell anemia.

This anemia medicine is taken by swallowing it whole (orally) without crushing, chewing, or opening the capsule.

5. Epoetin alfa

Anemia will gradually improve when the chronic disease that triggered it is treated successfully. But sometimes, kidney disease patients and cancer patients who suffer from anemia due to chemotherapy are given epoetin alfa drugs to stimulate red blood cells.

The drug epoetin alfa is used to treat blood deficiency due to several conditions, namely:

Post-chemotherapy anemia
Anemia due to chronic kidney disease
Anemia caused by using zidovudine to treat HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

This drug is also used to reduce the need for red blood cell transfusions in people undergoing certain surgical procedures. Epoetin alfa is a form of man-made protein that helps the body produce red blood cells.

This anemia drug is given by injection through an IV. However, doctors do not recommend using this drug by injection if you have:

High blood pressure that is difficult to control
Have pure red cell aplasia (a type of anemia) after using epoetin alfa
Using a multidose epoetin alfa bottle while pregnant and breastfeeding.

6. Immunosuppressants

For people with aplastic anemia who cannot undergo a bone marrow transplant, the doctor will give immunosuppressants, such as cyclosporin and anti-thymocyte globulin.

These drugs function to suppress the activity of immune cells that damage your bone marrow. These drugs also help your bone marrow recover and produce new blood cells so that symptoms of aplastic anemia can be controlled.

7. Spinal cord stimulant drugs

Another type of anemia treatment your doctor may recommend is stimulant drugs. These medications may be prescribed to help with symptoms of aplastic anemia. Medicines such as sargramostim, filgrastim, and pegfilgrastim are useful to help stimulate the bone marrow to produce new blood cells.

What are the side effects of taking medication to treat anemia?

Generally, in the treatment of anemia, you will be given iron supplements as one of the drugs to treat blood deficiency. Consuming iron-rich nutrients can indeed overcome and prevent anemia. However, it is not impossible that your iron intake could be excessive.

The average iron content in blood booster drugs is about 14 mg. This is equivalent to half your daily needs. In fact, higher supplement doses can contain up to 65 mg of iron.

This amount has not been added to the intake of iron from daily foods, such as green vegetables, beef, chicken liver, fish, seafood, eggs, and nuts. As an illustration, 100 grams of steak has an iron content of about 3 mg and 100 grams of spinach has a content of about 2.7 mg.

Eating it without knowing the right dosage can certainly have the potential to cause side effects for health. Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, here are the common side effects of iron overload that can occur:

Pain in the back, groin, and chest muscles
Stomach ache
Shivering
Dizziness and headaches
Fainting
Heart beat
Fever with profuse sweating
Decreased function of the sense of taste; The tongue feels sour (metallic taste)
Nausea and vomiting
Swelling of the mouth and throat
Respiratory disorders
Indigestion, be it constipation or diarrhea
Rash on skin