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beyardo t1_j94jip4 wrote

Should be noted that anemia of chronic disease is separate from chronic blood loss anemia, although IBD can cause both. Anemia of chronic disease is a result of chronic inflammation decreasing your body’s synthesis of RBCs, while blood loss anemia like that seen in chronic bleeding is a result of losing blood

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Bax_Cadarn t1_j95fqtg wrote

That's why chronic disease is normocytic while with blood loss is microcytic. Unless with long term small bleeds the body adapts to eventually make them normal size too.

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beyardo t1_j9anb0e wrote

ACD often eventually becomes microcytic as well, as the inflammatory stuff eventually sequesters the iron until you get a relative iron deficiency

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