If you asked most people what bone marrow is the answer most readily be given would be something like, ” the stuff inside the bone.” But, what is that stuff inside the bone and when something goes wrong and you need a bone marrow transplant, exactly what does that mean, what is the “stuff” inside the bone.
Bone marrow is the reddish-looking material inside nearly every bone in the human body, is where all the blood cells are produced. These are bone marrow stem cells, which are constantly dividing, producing huge numbers of cells that turn into red and white blood cells.
Just as a couple of million are being produced every second, the same number are being destroyed in the spleen. The spleen is where blood cells are taken out of circulation once they had completed their useful life cycle.
The process of birth in the bone marrow and death in the spleen should be evenly balanced. But, if it isn’t you will be prone to blood disorders. If your system is destroying more red blood cells that it is making you will become anemic. This is a problem with which I suffer a great deal since I was 13 years old, now, I am 56. So it is something treatable and can function to live with. But, the anemia will make you feel tired and you will appear sickly looking and pale. You may bruise easily and feel lightheaded, and be short of breath, you will know something is not right. Vitamins and a great diet is something which becomes important. A diet high in iron and B-12. I dine on something most people do not like, but I am so used to, for I have eaten all my life: Beef Liver and onions. Properly made it is delicious and highest in the iron which those who suffer from anemia needs. Yet, a word of warning to those on chemo, organ meat is not recommended at that time, especially if your white blood counts are low. Balance is everything in life.
If your system is making more than you are destroying you will become polycythemic or you will suffer from blood that is overcrowded with red blood cells. This too needs to be medically treated.
Once the cells form in the bone marrow they will remain there and mature at which time they will exit and enter the bloodstream. There they will circulate, with the red blood cells carrying oxygen and carbon dioxide and your white blood cells watching out for infectious agents or germs.
What you can’t see inside your body and your bones you need to sometimes rely on outward syptoms.