CONDITION: Cold Agglutinin Disease

DESCRIPTION:
Cold agglutinin disease, also called cold antibody disease or cold antibody hemolytic anemia, is an autoimmune disease in which the body develops antibodies that attack red blood cells at room temperature or colder. The condition is more likely to attack cooler parts of the body like the fingers, nose, and ears. Cold agglutinin disease typically first appears in people over the age of 40.

How does cold agglutinin disease develop?
In this autoimmune disease, the immune system malfunctions and produces antibodies that attack the red blood cells when the body is cold, causing the symptoms of the disease to develop. Normally, red blood cells have a life span of approximately 120 days before the spleen removes them from the body. When individuals have cold agglutinin disease, the red blood cells are destroyed prematurely and bone marrow production of new cells can not compensate for their loss. The severity of the anemia that develops is determined by the length of time that the red blood cells survive and by the capacity of the bone marrow to continue new red blood cell production. There are two types of the disorder: acute or chronic. The acute form often develops in people who have infections.

What are the symptoms of cold agglutinin disease?
Symptoms of the disorder may include fatigue; anemia caused by low levels of circulating red blood cells; jaundice characterized by persistent yellowing of the skin, mucous membranes and whites of the eyes; and/or sweating and coldness of the fingers and/or toes and uneven bluish or reddish discoloration of the skin of the fingers toes, ankles, and wrists.

Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of cold agglutinin disease but they do not address the root of the problem. Generally, by undergoing comprehensive natural medicine testing, the reasons the body is producing antibodies against itself can be found. Some of these reasons include sensitivities or allergies to foods, inhalants and chemicals and various infections.

Discover why we believe that natural medicine treatments are the best way to treat cold agglutinin disease.

Learn about the treatments for Cold Agglutinin Disease