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Symptoms of megaloblastic anemia
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Initial manifestations (can be observed for several months before the unfolded clinical picture):
- megaloblastic anemia;
- paresthesia;
- soreness of the tongue or of the entire oral cavity;
- red smooth ("lacquered") language;
- loss of body weight (as a result of anorexia);
- difficulties in walking and performing fine movements with hands;
- fatigue;
- lethargy.
Deployed clinical manifestations:
Pigmentation disorders:
- gently yellow color of the skin (combination of pallor with mild icterism);
- appearance of foci of hyperpigmentation and vitiligo;
- discoloration of hair;
- febrile fever (often found);
Defeat of the digestive tract:
- glossitis;
- loss of appetite (before anorexia), nausea, vomiting;
- stool gruel several times a day or diarrhea, flatulence;
- sometimes a pseudotumor abdominal cavity due to hypertrophy of the muscles of the pyloric sphincter;
- episodic abdominal pain of varying intensity;
Lesions of the nervous system in the form of peripheral neuropathy (due to degenerative processes in the posterior and lateral parts of the spinal cord, as well as in the peripheral nerves):
- apathy, weakness;
- irritability;
- delay in psychomotor development and loss of skills, especially motor skills, in young children;
- presence of involuntary movements;
- muscular hypotension, lack of reflexes;
- paresthesia of the extremities, lack of sensitivity;
- loss of orientation against the background of gait disturbance;
- a positive test of Romberg;
- spastic paresis with increased knee and ankle reflexes;
- the appearance of the Babinsky reflex.
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