This page aims to give you a better understanding of what
happens during the painful times of a crisis for a patient
with Sickle Cell Anaemia. These are all my accounts of
what it's like, the problems you face in hospital, how
you are treated et cetera. I hope it helps you in your
understanding of Sickle Cell Anaemia.
Well, there are several reasons why people with Sickle
Cell Anaemia can get ill. However, one important factor
is good hydration and of the most common reasons for having
a crisis is because of an infection like a cold or influenza.
And it can be very basic things that start off crisis
like cold weather.
Sickle Cell Anaemia has many variables which can start
a crisis but the basic reason is lack of oxygen to the red
blood cells, causing them to 'Sickle'. Sickled red blood
cells then become clogged in the veins which causes the
host to get ill. The ill effect of having a sickle cell
'crisis' is mild to severe pain. See What
is Sickle Cell Anaemia? for a better description.
What it's like...
Well, ask any person with Sickle
Cell Anaemia this question and they'll tell you this answer...
It is painful!. It is hard to explain the type
of pain that it is - because the severity of it is quite
unbelievable. Sometimes it throbs, sometimes it just hurts!
A typical crisis for me can
start like this...
-
I'll be fine for most of the
day. I may have a few symptoms which can sometimes warn
me that I am going to be ill, or have a crisis later on.
-
When I am definitely having a
crisis I'll know roughly around 30 minutes beforehand. This
is because the gums holding the teeth in my lower jaw starts
to feel numb (sounds odd I know). I was thinking that maybe
it was my body's own analgesia working because it feels
like a drug. I do not know if anyone else with Sickle Cell
has this but I have got this 'warning signal' for around
a year now.
-
After this period of time comes
the serious pain. Before this point I'm usually anxious
of the fact that I know I'm going to get ill and
have to go into hospital.
-
Within the 30 minutes of time
the amount of pain increases greatly, and the normal physical
tasks like walking become very difficult.
-
At this point my mother would
call an ambulance to get me to the hospital as quickly as
possible. This is to ensure speed in getting treated as
soon as possible in hospital. This is because Sickle Cell
Anaemia can affect you very quickly, i.e. temperature, pain
severity.
-
In the ambulance Entinox
is given to calm me down and to ease the pain a little.
Also my personal information, such as Name, Age, Date of
Birth, When the pain started, Any recent infections, Last
time admitted to hospital, How many Crises I've had this
year, are taken and passed onto the hospital's Casualty
staff.
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