Frequently asked question: What are common symptoms of sickle cell disease?

Anemia: symptoms depend on the extent of the anemia. Common symptoms include tiredness, feeling weak, shortness of breath, dizziness, heart palpitations, sweating, headache.
Sickle cell crisis: an episode where small or larger blood vessels get clogged up, potentially leading to a lack of oxygen in body tissue, which is referred to as infarction. Infarction can occur in many places in the body and do temporary or lasting damage. Examples include brain, renal, or bone infarctions.
A sickle cell crisis is often very painful. The extent of the pain is determined by the location of the crisis. A bone crisis, for example, is very painful, while splenic infarction can go entirely unnoticed due to the absence of pain.
Infections: if your spleen is not working properly, or not at all, you will be more prone to infections with, among other things, encapsulated bacteria such as pneumococci, meningococci, and Hemophilus influenza. These kinds of infections can come with symptoms such as fever, not feeling well, loss of appetite, and pain (such as a sore throat or headache). Due to reduced splenic function, bacteria are not adequately eliminated, allowing the infection to spread through the body quickly and easily. This may lead to more serious and severe infections, like sepsis or meningitis. The infections themselves, in turn, trigger sickle cell crises that cause further damage to organs.

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Sickle cell disease symptoms and problems

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