Are you experiencing sudden severe body pain because of a sickle cell crisis that may sometimes require hospitalization?
Living under a constant fear of onset of sudden agonizing pain is definitely not the life you or your loved one ever imagined to have. While sickle cell disease poses severe health threats it can cause irreversible damage to various organs. Also, the painkillers you might be taking to manage the pain can also affect your body adversely.
We understand your desire to get rid of your pain that you might have felt every time you experience a bout of sickle cell crisis. But now you do not have to experience that pain again and again.
The advanced bone marrow transplant procedure now, you can reverse your sickle cell anemia and thereby the complication of sickle cell anemia like sickle cell crisis. After undergoing bone marrow transplant you can get rid of any adverse effect your body might have experienced because of sickle cell crisis.
Before understanding how Bone marrow transplant can help you with sickle cell crisis, let us first understand what sickle cell crisis is.
What is the sickle cell crisis?
Sickle cell crisis is a term that is given to a group of acute symptoms that arise suddenly due to the complications of sickle cell anemia. Generally sickle cell crisis is activated by a trigger factor like stress, and infection. However there have been instances where sickle cell crisis developed without any known triggers.
What are the different sickle cell crisis types?
The most common types of sickle cell crisis are:
Vaso occlusive pain:
Vaso occlusive pain is an acute painful condition that arises due to the blockage of blood vessels. During this condition you may experience moderate to severe pain along with swelling at the affected site.
This type of pain is common in the extremities, chest and back.
Splenic sequestration crisis:
Splenic sequestration crisis is common among children which causes acute painful enlargement of the spleen. This type of sickle cell crisis is caused due to accumulation of red cells which gets trapped inside the spleen.
People are at a risk of developing anemia and shock because of lowered blood volume. If left untreated, a splenic sequestration crisis can cause severe complications.
Acute Chest Syndrome:
When the sickle shaped blood cells clog the small blood vessels of the lungs it can trigger acute chest syndrome. The clogged blood vessel may cause sudden severe pain and sometimes it may cause fatal consequences.
Aplastic crisis:
Sometimes there is a suppression in the production of new red blood cells which causes anemia. If left unattended it can cause low blood volume triggered shock.
Sometimes the blockage or lack of blood supply can cause damage to vital organs like the brain, kidney and liver.
What are the symptoms of sickle cell crisis?
Sickle cell crisis can be associated with several symptoms. The symptoms mainly depend on the part of the body affected. The symptoms include:
- Pain and swelling in the affected muscles, bones, and joints.
- Difficulty in breathing
- Loss of consciousness
- Making a decision becomes difficult because of lack of blood supply to the brain
- General weakness of the body
When does sickle cell crisis occur?
Sickle cell crisis occurs in people with sickle cell anemia when they experience a trigger factor like:
- Infection
- Stress
- Dehydration
- Cold temperature
- Humidity
- Certain medicines
- Lack of nutrients
- Lack of oxygen supply
Sometimes, people with sickle cell anemia may experience sickle cell crisis without any trigger.
Is there any cure for sickle cell crisis?
Yes! There is a cure for sickle cell crisis. One can get rid of sickle cell crisis by reversing their sickle cell anemia.
With help of bone marrow transplant you can reverse your sickle cell anemia thereby, improving the quality of the red blood cells. Once the quality of the red blood cells improves you decrease your chances of experiencing sickle cell crisis.
How does bone transplant facilitate the treatment of sickle cell crisis?
Sickle cell crisis is mainly caused as an acute complication of sickle cell anemia. So in order to cure sickle cell crisis permanently you must ensure to get treated for sickle cell anemia.
Bone marrow transplant has become a viable treatment for people who are experiencing severe symptoms of sickle cell crisis. During bone marrow transplant the doctor replaces your bone marrow that produces morphologically incorrect blood cells with healthy bone marrow.
Once the healthy bone marrow gets transplanted they replace the sickle shaped blood cells with healthy red blood cells. Once the sickle shaped cells get replaced by normal cells you may not face any complications of sickle cell anemia.
Conclusion:
Bone marrow transplant has helped many people with sickle cell anemia reverse their condition. We understand that the decision to undergo transplant is not easy but to ensure a better disease free future you need to take the first step.
However, we suggest you be sure about the bone marrow transplant before undergoing it. You must be sure before making a final choice about whether or not you want to have a bone marrow transplant. Although bone marrow transplant has cured thousands of people with sickle cell anemia, you must make an informed decision.
If you want to know more please visit bone marrow transplant.
