Can someone explain sickle cell?

Question

My girlfriend has sickle cell and I was just wondering if anyone can give me some information.

Answer 1

What is sickle cell disease?

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that turns normal, round blood cells into misshaped cells that look like sickles or crescent moons. These sickled cells can get stuck in blood vessels, blocking blood flow and causing severe pain as well as damage to organs, muscles, and bones.

Complications of sickle cell disease can include:

Painful events (painful crises), caused when blood flow is blocked by sickled cells.
Acute chest syndrome, a possibly life-threatening condition.
Splenic sequestration, caused by large numbers of blood cells trapped in the spleen.
Anemia.
Infection.
Organ damage and failure.
What causes sickle cell disease?

Sickle cell disease, a group of blood disorders, is inherited, passed from parent to child. Children with sickle cell disease have two defective genes, one from each parent.

A child born with sickle cell trait inherited one defective gene from one parent, and a normal gene from the other parent. These children don't have sickle cell disease but are carriers of the defective gene and may pass it on to their children.

What are the symptoms?

Painful events are the most common symptom of sickle cell disease. They occur in the hands, feet, abdomen, or chest. The pain may last from hours to days. Anemia can often occur in people with sickle cell disease. Symptoms of anemia include feeling weak and tired. People with sickle cell anemia can appear pale or washed out, or have a yellowish look to their skin and the whites of their eyes (jaundice).

When a child is born with sickle cell disease, it isn't possible to predict which symptoms will develop, when they will start, or how severe they will be.

How is sickle cell disease diagnosed?

Your health professional can diagnose sickle cell disease through the results of blood tests that look for the presence of sickle cell hemoglobin. Some states have screening programs for newborns. Results of a simple blood test before infants go home from the hospital show whether or not the disease is present. Diagnosis can also occur before birth when the child is still in the womb.1

How is it treated?

The best possible treatment for a person with sickle cell disease is a partnership between the affected family and a team of health professionals. Successful treatment requires:

Early diagnosis using infant screening (shortly after birth).
Preventive antibiotic treatment and immunizations starting at 3 to 4 months of age.
An aggressive pain treatment plan.
Consultation with doctors skilled in the care of patients with sickle cell disease. In severe cases, doctors may recommend regular blood transfusions, drug treatment with hydroxyurea, or (rarely) bone marrow transplant.

Answer 2

Try going to the link below it has all the answers to any question you might have about sickle cell.

Answer 3

Go to this site also:
http://www.webmd.com