Iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) is a rare, inherited form of red blood cell counts. Iron deficiency can occur when there’s not enough in your body for healthy cells to make up the difference and develop into new generations – this leads people suffering from IRIDA towards lifelong health problems as they are never able to catch up growth-wise due to their slow start off because at birth it already took them two months before being fully developed.
Iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia is a rare type of blood disorder that results from the lack (deficiency) in your body’s natural supply. It becomes an “iron refractor” because it resists treatment with oral or intravenous medications, which cause white blood cells to be abnormally small and pale; this makeup can also affect certain organs.
Symptoms
Some common symptoms of IRIDA are,
- fatigue, weakness
- irritability
- exercise/feeding intolerance
- exertional dyspnea
- headache, vertigo
- pale skin
Diagnosis
Symptoms and testing for rare diseases can be challenging to diagnose. Healthcare professionals typically look at a person’s medical history, symptoms, physical exam as well as laboratory test results in order to make an accurate diagnosis of genetic or chromosomal disorders such as Genetic hemochromatosis (GHC). The following resources provide information relating to this condition with its various types that need attention from health care providers. The GTR provides helpful tools including step-by-step instructions which help people find out more details.
Treatment
Children with iron-refractory anemia are usually not helped by taking oral supplements. However, some children who have this condition may benefit from high doses of the supplement or lengthy dosing schedules that include vitamin C.
In the case of IRIDA, current treatment guidelines recommend an initial trial with oral iron supplements along with vitamin C to see if this can help improve. If there’s no improvement or minimal improvement after several weeks on those treatments alone then further action may be required- including intravenous (IV) therapy in some cases.
Prognosis
Children with IRIDA typically have normal growth and development, though it’s currently unknown what the long-term effects of this disorder will be. In general signs or symptoms improve as children age–some studies show they diminish up until adulthood.
Anemia is a condition in which the hemoglobin count of blood has decreased below normal levels and IRIDA is the condition in which the genetic factor is also involved, making it difficult to treat and it is also resistant to a lot of general treatments used to treat Anemia. To learn more about different diseases and medical treatments, click here.