10 Colon Cancer Symptoms
Symptom #7: Fatigue
Person’s with anemia can experience fatigue or a sensation of weakness and tiredness. However, anemia is not the sole cause of this symptom. Anemia is a condition in which there is a lack of healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to your tissues.
Red blood cells, specifically the hemoglobin contained in their interior, need iron to bind that oxygen. There are many causes of anemia, which are not necessarily malignant. However, colorectal cancer can be a cause of a type of anemia called iron deficiency anemia. It does so by inducing chronic blood loss (i.e. bloody stools) that leads to loss of red blood cells and the iron they contain. Also, this cancer may reduce the iron uptake in the gut or induce sequestration of absorbed iron in certain organs (reticulo-endothelial system).
Advertisement
