Interesting Facts About Sickle Cell Disease

Have you come across intriguing articles about sickle cell? Well, I bet you've done so! In this article, I'm going to talk about many of those things but in a more sober and well-mannered way. The reason for doing this is to enlighten some and correct the wrongs. Also, remember sickle cell isn't a curse, one can live a normal life like everyone else. I know pain is inevitable, but I pray one day a cure will be found!

The facts and myths are as follows:

1. Pain

• Myth - patients living with sickle cell anemia struggle with drug addiction as a result of trying to minimize pain.

• Fact - if you have sickle cell, pain is inevitable hence sometimes one requires prescribed doses of narcotics. Opioid dependency may occur if a patient uses narcotics for euphoria or stimulant effects rather than analgesia. Narcotic addiction in people with sickle cell is no more common in the general population and maybe minimized with a carefully designed analgesic regimen and maintenance of proper control.

2. Lifespan

• Myth - patients with sickle cell don't live past the age of 21.

• Fact - the majority of patients live past 21 and well into adulthood. It hasn't been proven yet of any life span of a patient with sickle cell.

3. Trait

• Myth - a sickle cell trait is a mild form of sickle cell disease.

• Fact - sickle cell trait is not a disease, it's generally an asymptomatic carrier state. If both parents have the sickle cell trait, there's a one in four chance of having a child with the disease. One out of thirteen African-Americans has sickle cell trait and don't know that they have it.

4. Race

• Myth - sickle cell only affects black people

• Fact - whether you're black, white, or Asian you can get sickle cell disease.

5. Cure 

• Myth - bone marrow (stem cell) transplant is a universal cure for sickle cell patients.

• Fact - not all individuals with the disease are eligible for stem cell transplant; there are associated risk levels from person to person.

6. Malaria

• Myth - patients with sickle cell can't get malaria.

• Fact - the cell being sickle neither stops the bite nor hinders the transmission of the plasmodium parasite. People with the disease are more prone to malaria compared to normal people.

7. Death during childhood

• Myth - for a long time now, there has been misinformation going around the interwebs that patients die during childhood from sickle cell complications.

• Fact - there's no scientific evidence that patients die during childhood. Persistent treatment, a healthy diet, and the right nutrients can produce favorable outcomes.

8. Sickle cell is contagious like HIV

• Myth - some people say sickle cell anemia can be transferred from person to person.

• Fact - sickle cell is a genetic disease and cannot be spread. It's in one's genetic makeup. Your DNA!

9. Jaundice

• Myth - jaundice is a symptom of sickle cell anemia.

• Fact - it's merely a probability that a person with sickle cell would have jaundice.

10. Red blood cells

• Myth - all red blood cells have the same properties.

• Fact - sickle hemoglobin is different from normal hemoglobin. Most red blood cells are round in shape (disc) so they can pass through small blood vessels to deliver oxygen. However, in sickle hemoglobin, the red blood cells are C-shaped hence they have difficulties transporting oxygen to different parts of the body.

11. Period of suffering from sickle cell 

• Myth - sickle cell is a short-term condition.

• Fact - though some pain crises may be short-lived, people who had a sickle cell at birth will live with it through their entire life.

12. Motivation

• Myth - sickle cell patients are unmotivated and lack the initiative to do things, unlike normal people.

• Fact - sickle cell disease can affect the body, mind, and overall life of patients. People mistake health issues such as fatigue and anxiety for one being lazy and unmotivated.

Sickle cell is not a curse, anyone can be born with it. It's very sad when I come across all these myths around the disease; we need to change the perception! Don't spread lies and also avoid stigmatizing patients with sickle cell disease.