What are signs and symptoms of sickle cell anemia.?!

What are signs and symptoms of sickle cell anemia.?

Well, you almost certainly do not have it if you are not sure what the symptoms are, so don't worry about that. However, if you are just curious...the symptoms are usually related to one of three things

1) chronic anemia: this causes decreased exercise tolerance, changes in the bone structure of the forehead (because extra blood cells are being made in the bone marrow), chronic heart strain (which can sometimes result in chronic heart failure), etc.

2) sickle cell crisis: when the abnormal red cells are exposed to stress or low oxygen concentrations (like, if you went mountain climbing, or had the flu, or got very dehydrated), they "sickle," and they then have trouble getting through the small blood vessels of the body, clogging things up, causing pain, swelling, and other symptoms know as "sickle cell crisis" and "acute chest syndrome."

3) Autosplenectomy: this is the slow loss of the spleen over the first 5-6 years of life in someone who has sickle cell disease. This occurs because the spleen works overtime cleaning out the abnormally shaped red cells. Over time, it shrinks and dies off, leaving the body with a slightly impaired immune system. Because of this, people with sickle cell disease are more likely to get certain kinds of blood infections and so must get more immunizations than other people and/or taking preventative antibiotics every day in order to protect themselves.

There are many other symptoms and problems with sickle cell, but that kind of sums up the important ones. People with just one gene for sickle cell (sickle cell carriers or "trait") may have very mild versions of these symptoms, but usually do not have any symptoms at all.