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Symptoms of megaloblastic anemias
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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Initial manifestations (may be observed for several months before the appearance of a full-blown clinical picture):
- megaloblastic anemia;
- paresthesia;
- soreness of the tongue or the entire oral cavity;
- red smooth ("varnished") tongue;
- weight loss (as a result of anorexia);
- difficulty walking and performing fine hand movements;
- fatigue;
- lethargy.
Extended clinical manifestations:
Pigmentation disorders:
- soft yellow skin color (a combination of pallor and slight icterus);
- the appearance of foci of hyperpigmentation and vitiligo;
- hair bleaching;
- febrile fever (common);
Gastrointestinal lesions:
- glossitis;
- loss of appetite (up to anorexia), nausea, vomiting;
- mushy stools several times a day or diarrhea, flatulence;
- sometimes pseudotumor of the 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;
- delayed psychomotor development and loss of skills, especially motor skills, in young children;
- presence of involuntary movements;
- muscle hypotonia, lack of reflexes;
- paresthesia of the extremities, lack of sensitivity;
- loss of orientation due to gait disturbance;
- positive Romberg test;
- spastic paresis with increased knee and ankle reflexes;
- the appearance of the Babinski reflex.
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