WHAT IS ANEMIA? Anemia in general is one of many conditions in
which the circulating red blood cells are either deficient in
number or in total hemoglobin content, relative to the normal
ranges. For the red blood cells to remain constant, the ones
that die off must be replaced by new red blood cells that are
released from the bone marrow. The average lifespan of a red
blood cell is about 120 days - roughly 4 months - with about
1/120th being replaced on a daily basis, and a correspondingly
equal count of new red blood cells being released into the
bloodstream on a daily basis. In acute (24-48 hours after the
acute blood loss) or long-term chronic cases, there may also be
"reticulocytes" in the blood, these are immature blood cells the
body is releasing ahead of schedule in order to speed up
production. WHAT CAUSES ANEMIA? Anemias typically can be broken
down into two basic types - regenerative (the body can keep up
with demand) and non-regenerative (the body is unable to make
new red blood cells fast enough f