Beriberi symptoms are more common in the off-season. This painful condition can be caused due to malfunctions in the body, but most often people harm themselves. For example, adhering to too strict diets. It is important to notice the problem in time in order to start fixing it as soon as possible, before it leads to serious consequences.
What is beriberi?
Symptoms of beriberi will not be long in coming, since this is a disease in which the body lacks one vitamin or a group of them. Fortunately, the problem is rare enough.
An example of beriberi is the case when an infant is fed the wrong mixture for a long time. Gradually, there is a deficiency of vitamins, and then their absence. This can happen if the baby is not introduced to complementary foods on time or not given enough fruits and vegetables.
Avitaminosis is often confused with hypovitaminosis. This needs to be sorted out.
Importantdo not confuse
Symptoms of avitaminosis people often call signs of hypovitaminosis. These are different stages of the same problem. Only hypovitaminosis is less dangerous, since it develops with a lack of vitamins in the body. Deficiency does not mean complete absence, as with beriberi.
Hypovitaminosis is quite common. It lends itself well to vitamin correction. The risk group includes infants, adolescents at the time of puberty, women during gestation and breastfeeding, people with bad habits. But back to beriberi, or rather the reasons for its appearance.
Causes of occurrence
Symptoms of vitamin deficiency can be observed in people with an inadequate diet. For example, girls who adhere to strict monotonous diets. Vitamins do not enter the body for a long time. This leads to metabolic disorders and even less absorption of useful components.
Smoking, alcohol consumption, psychotropic and other drugs can be attributed to important reasons. Such a lifestyle destroys the body, a person does not think about rational nutrition.
In rare cases, the problem is related to the pathology of the internal organs. For example, a person with low acidity does not absorb vitamin B12 and some trace elements. Without specialized help, he will not be able to restore the vitamin balance.
With certain drug therapies, vitamins are destroyed. The same drugs interfere with the absorption of newly incominguseful substances. Usually these are drugs that reduce the acidity in the stomach.
Other reasons are related to the presence of parasites in the body, thyroid disease, environmentally unfavorable living conditions.
In the photo, beriberi, the symptoms and treatment of which are associated with a balanced diet, are manifested by poor appearance. It is impossible not to notice this. More on this.
Symptoms of beriberi on the skin
The first problems are asymptomatic. When the situation becomes more complicated, initial signs appear. It is quite difficult to ignore them, since everyone pays attention to appearance.
The tendency of the skin to irritation and inflammation should alert. Many people face the problem of acne on the face. They try to treat her cosmetically, but sometimes the reason lies in the lack of vitamins A, C, E.
The skin in the photo (symptom of beriberi) is dry, flaky, with cracks. Soon the problem will lead to early aging, the appearance of wrinkles. It's not just the face that suffers.
So with a lack of vitamin A, “goosebumps” appear on the body. Pathology appears on the hips, knees, elbows, shins.
Pigmented spots of dark color may appear on the body, which can merge together. The problem should be treated by a dermatologist. With proper metabolism restored, pigmentation may disappear completely.
With a lack of vitamin B2 secretion of the sebaceous glands increases and excessive pollution occursoily skin. Because of this, acne, boils are often formed. Rosacea develops on the face.
Vitamin E deficiency leads to stretch marks on the skin. They resemble those that are formed during the bearing of a child. They occur not only in women, but also in men.
Manifestation on hands
The lack of some vitamins affects the skin of the hands, which is very dry, covered with cracks. Hands are constantly itchy and flaky. The resulting wounds do not heal for a long time, they can become inflamed. From the fingers, the skin can begin to peel off, causing pain and anxiety.
As with the face, wrinkles appear on the hands. Nails, which become brittle, also suffer. The nail plate is bent, exfoliated. The person experiences psychological discomfort as others pay attention to the hand problem.
Appearance on the lips
Symptoms of beriberi in adults appear on the lips. Due to the lack of vitamin B, the delicate skin of the lips loses its elasticity and dries up. Cracks appear in the corners that do not heal and cause pain.
With the lack of proper hygiene, staphylococcus or other dangerous bacteria can get into the cracks. Then the problem will get worse.
Children's beriberi
Symptoms of beriberi in children appear quickly enough. This is due to the process of growth and development of a young organism. In addition to the symptoms listed above, the following general signs should be looked out for:
- heavy waking up in the morning, generalweakness;
- drowsy throughout the day;
- child is unable to concentrate for a given time;
- unjustified decline in academic performance;
- inexplicable tearfulness;
- restless sleep;
- frequent illnesses;
- there are deep furrows in the tongue;
- respiratory problems;
- appearance of strange taste preferences in the form of chalk, coal and other inedible substances;
- bleeding from the nose and gums;
- convulsions.
When running vitamin deficiency, the bones of the skeleton are deformed, frequent fractures are observed.
Severe consequences of beriberi
It is necessary to pay special attention to your diet, because beriberi develops due to the lack of various vitamins entering the body. This often provokes the development of serious illnesses:
- Night blindness - reduction or absence of night vision. Vitamin A is the problem.
- Scurvy - a disease manifested by fragility of blood vessels, tooth loss, pain in the limbs, decreased immunity. The reason lies in vitamin C. Sailors suffered from scurvy until sauerkraut was introduced into the diet.
- Pellagra - the disease is manifested by photodermatosis, weakness, insomnia, diarrhea. There may be paralysis of the limbs. Occurs in the absence of vitamin PP.
Such diseases require long-term therapy.
Treatment
Before prescribing treatment, the doctor must decide which vitamin inthe body does not. For this, it is not enough just to know the symptoms. Modern tests allow you to see the clinical picture in full.
Symptoms of vitamin deficiency and treatment of the disease are associated with vitamin complexes. If we are talking about hypovitaminosis, it is not always worth treating it with medication. It is enough to adjust the diet for a person suffering from a lack of vitamins.
If a person's condition is severe, hospitalization may be necessary with the introduction of vitamins in the form of droppers and injections.
If there is a shortage or absence of certain vitamins, the specialist prescribes medications, nutritional vitamin supplements. In addition, a large number of foods that contain the necessary elements are introduced into the diet.
Only a doctor should decide on the introduction of vitamins into the body in the form of drugs. Especially when it comes to a child.
Oversaturation with vitamins is an even more dangerous state of the body. It's called hypervitaminosis. Saturating the body with vitamins is easier than removing them from it.
Prevention
In order to avoid symptoms of beriberi and hypovitaminosis, it is necessary to adhere to a rational, nutritious, varied diet. This is especially true for children.
List of he althy foods and vitamins they are rich in:
- Butter, liver, sorrel, blackcurrant - vitamin A.
- Peas, buckwheat, bran - B1.
- Kidneys, milk, eggs – B2.
- Vegetable oil, herbs, meat,milk - E.
- Meat, fish, offal, fruits, vegetables - PP.
- Beans, meat, fish, offal, bananas – B6.
- Soybeans, Liver – B12.
- Kiwi, blackcurrant, lemon, strawberry, horseradish, cabbage – S.
- Cauliflower, green tomatoes, vegetable oil – K.
- Egg yolk, fatty fish – D.
Also, vitamin D is produced by the person himself, or rather by the cells of his skin under the influence of sunlight. Therefore, a walk in the fresh air charges the body with the necessary element. But the method does not work in winter, when there are practically no sunny days. That is why babies born in the fall are prescribed vitamin D drops.
Vitamin K is also produced in the body. This happens in the intestines with the help of microflora.
Please note that some foods may be allergic. But in general, they have been a common food on the tables of Europeans for several generations, and even more.
If the food is varied, it will be able to please the household and fill them with useful elements. Then you won't have to learn anything about beriberi.
