Fish would be pretty jealous of my skills when I get into the swimming pool, for swimming has always been like oxygen to me. But when I was in Senior Three back in 2009, I started having breathing difficulties and I started getting rather scary palpitations every time I was swimming, exercising or walking for more than 15 minutes. I later developed continuous fatigue, headaches, waking up late, loss of appetite, dizziness, my eyes became white and my skin became so pale so I decided to seek medical assistance.When I was diagnosed, the doctor said I was suffering from anaemia and had only four litres of blood in my body; it was that bad as I had little blood compared to what is normal, the doctor said.From my experience, I believe there are many more that might confuse symptoms of anaemia with those of malaria or typhoid like I did when I first suffered from anemia.

One thing I learnt from my sickness is that anaemia can never be treated unless they first discover the reason you are losing the blood.Anemia is a condition caused by lack of red blood cells (RBC) or decreased quantity of haemoglobin, a carrier of oxygen from lungs to tissues.Dr Alex Butera, an orthopedic at the Rwanda Military Hospital, says iron deficiency anaemia is the most common and it causes the RBCs to be smaller than normal.This is common in women of child bearing age because of constant loss through monthly menses. It affects 12 per cent of women in childbearing age in developed countries and is up to 20 per cent in undeveloped compared to two per cent in men of same age group."Deficiency of vitamin B12 and folic acid causes RBC to be larger than normal. This is common and is usually due to inadequate intake of vitamin B12 or folic acid or both or inadequate absorption in the gut,” he said.Dr Butera advises that for iron deficiency anemia, there is need to eat foods with a lot of Iron like liver, beef, peanuts, white beans, pumpkin seeds and spinach for prevention.For severe cases, one may need transfusion of blood or taking tablets containing Iron according to the doctor. A sufferer can also treat ulcers, de-worm and control other conditions causing loss of blood.Anaemic persons can eat liver, chicken, kidney, egg york, soya, nuts and spinach to enrich the body with vitamin B12 and folic acid. In severe cases, take supplements containing vitamin B12 and folic acid.