Sickle Cell Crisis
If you have sickle cell disease, you've probably had pain in your bones or other parts of your body. These are called sickle cell crises, and they can happen anywhere from several times a year to every few years.
You might hear your doctor call sickle crisis by its formal name -- vaso-occlusive crisis. It's called that because the crisis is caused by blocked, or occluded, blood vessels.
Change Wardrobe
Take a look at your wardrobe with an eye to health, not fashion. Your purse, wallet, laptop case, and even some clothes can make back pain worse. Choose back-friendly accessories and garments to reduce the risk of injury and pain. Conditions: Back pain Symptoms:Â Pain, weakness, stiffness, aching, burning, muscle pain when standing, pain with movement, lower back pain, upper back pain, difficulty sleeping, depression, mood changes, back pain, pinched nerve, spine pain, leg pain, shoulder...
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The outbreaks of pain are one of the symptoms of sickle cell disease, a group of blood disorders. If you have it, your red blood cells look like a C-shaped farm tool called a sickle.
Normal red blood cells look a little bit like doughnuts without a hole. They move easily in your bloodstream. The sickle-shaped cells are rigid and sticky, and they can block the flow in your small blood vessels. That's what causes the pain of a sickle cell crisis.
There are several types of sickle cell disease, and the most common one is sickle cell anemia. It makes you feel tired, because your blood cells don't last as long as other people's do.
Normally, red blood cells live about 120 days. New ones that replace them are made in the soft, spongy center of your bones called the marrow. If you have sickle cell anemia, your red blood cells start dying after only 10 to 20 days. Your bone marrow can't replace them fast enough, which causes anemia.
Red blood cells carry oxygen around your body, which gives you energy. If you don't have enough of them, you'll get tired and you might also feel short of breath.
You don't "catch" sickle cell disease like you do a cold or flu. It runs in families. You have it because each of your parents passed on a broken gene to you. The faulty gene causes your body to make the sickle-shaped red blood cells.
If you get the bad gene from only one of your parents, you'll get a condition called sickle cell trait. In that case, you may not have any symptoms of the disease, or may just have a few symptoms. But you'll still be able to pass the problem gene to your children.
Sickle Cell Crisis
What Is a Sickle Cell Crisis?
If you have sickle cell disease, you've probably had pain in your bones or other parts of your body. These are called sickle cell crises, and they can happen anywhere from several times a year to every few years.
You might hear your doctor call sickle crisis by its formal name -- vaso-occlusive crisis. It's called that because the crisis is caused by blocked, or occluded, blood vessels.
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Change Wardrobe
Take a look at your wardrobe with an eye to health, not fashion. Your purse, wallet, laptop case, and even some clothes can make back pain worse. Choose back-friendly accessories and garments to reduce the risk of injury and pain. Conditions: Back pain Symptoms:Â Pain, weakness, stiffness, aching, burning, muscle pain when standing, pain with movement, lower back pain, upper back pain, difficulty sleeping, depression, mood changes, back pain, pinched nerve, spine pain, leg pain, shoulder...
Read the Change Wardrobe article > >
The outbreaks of pain are one of the symptoms of sickle cell disease, a group of blood disorders. If you have it, your red blood cells look like a C-shaped farm tool called a sickle.
Normal red blood cells look a little bit like doughnuts without a hole. They move easily in your bloodstream. The sickle-shaped cells are rigid and sticky, and they can block the flow in your small blood vessels. That's what causes the pain of a sickle cell crisis.
There are several types of sickle cell disease, and the most common one is sickle cell anemia. It makes you feel tired, because your blood cells don't last as long as other people's do.
Normally, red blood cells live about 120 days. New ones that replace them are made in the soft, spongy center of your bones called the marrow. If you have sickle cell anemia, your red blood cells start dying after only 10 to 20 days. Your bone marrow can't replace them fast enough, which causes anemia.
Red blood cells carry oxygen around your body, which gives you energy. If you don't have enough of them, you'll get tired and you might also feel short of breath.
You don't "catch" sickle cell disease like you do a cold or flu. It runs in families. You have it because each of your parents passed on a broken gene to you. The faulty gene causes your body to make the sickle-shaped red blood cells.
If you get the bad gene from only one of your parents, you'll get a condition called sickle cell trait. In that case, you may not have any symptoms of the disease, or may just have a few symptoms. But you'll still be able to pass the problem gene to your children.