Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle cell is one of the most common genetic conditions in the world. It affects the ability of the red blood cells to carry oxygen around your body.

Red blood cells are normally round and flexible, to easily move around your body. With sickle cell anemia, the shape and texture of the blood cells can change. They become hard and sticky and shaped like sickles or crescents. The cells then die prematurely leading to a shortage of red blood cells.

Sickle cell blood cells can get stuck when moving through small blood vessels. This stops the supply of oxygen to parts of the body. This is the sickling crisis that can cause pain and tissue damage and can lead to other serious complications such as stroke and blindness.

Causes of Sickle Cell Anemia

Mutated hemoglobin genes are inherited. Those that have the mutated gene are known as having the sickle cell trait. The chances of passing on the sickle cell gene when both parents have the sickle cell gene are:

• 25% chance that a baby will receive a pair of normal hemoglobin genes,
• 50% chance that a baby will receive one normal gene and one mutated gene. This is a sickle cell trait,
• 25% chance that a baby will receive a pair of mutated genes. This is the sickle cell anemia

If only one parent has the sickle cell trait, the baby will not get sickle cell anemia but will receive the sickle cell trait.

Symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia

Symptoms normally start appearing at four months of age. They include:

• Anemia – Since the cells are more fragile and die easily, your body will not get the oxygen it needs. You will feel tired, weak and out of breath,
• Hand-foot syndrome – Sickle cells block the small blood vessels in your hands and feet causing them to swell.
• Jaundice – Sickle cell causes a build up of dead sickle cells that the liver cannot deal with. This leads to a yellowing of the skin and eyes caused by damage of the liver, and
• Frequent infections – the spleen can become damaged leading to the body failing to fight infections.

A sickling crisis occurs when the sickle cells block small blood vessels in your body. This means the oxygen cannot get to the affected area leading to tissue damage and pain. The main symptoms are:

• Gradually worsening pain in the bones and joints,
• Severe pain in your abdomen with rigidity of the muscular wall,
• Difficulty breathing and a stabbing chest pain on breathing,
• Fever, and
• In men, persistent and painful erections

Sickle Cell Anemia Treatment

Sickle cell anemia treatment involves preventing a sickling crisis and complications. You will normally be referred to specialized sickle cell experts and clinics. Pain management will normally be managed with over the counter painkillers. In the case of chronic pain, your specialist may recommend the use of opiate painkillers like morphine.

Blood transfusions are used to increase the number of healthy red blood cells in the body. They can be used for those with a high risk of stroke. They are used to relieve the symptoms of anemia.

Bone marrow transplantation is used to replace the affected bone marrow with bone marrow. The bone marrow is donated from someone who does not have sickle cell anemia. The new bone marrow will begin producing healthy blood cells.

Sickle Cell Anemia Prevention

Since sickle cell anemia is a genetic complication, there is no way to prevent it. Symptoms and complications can be prevented to give a better quality of life. Those with sickle cell should take vaccinations as well as antibiotics to keep common complications like flu and pneumonia.

In order to prevent sickle cell crises, you can make the following lifestyle changes:

• Drink plenty of water,
• Exercise regularly,
• Do not smoke,
• Eat a healthy and balanced diet, and
• Limit the amount of alcohol

It is possible to have a good quality life as long as one takes care of their lifestyle choices.

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