Medical advances will not doubt help present-day children and teens with sickle cell anemia to have a greater chance for enjoyment of an adult life. Such children will then become adults with a chronic medical condition. The writer of the following article wants to emphasize the degree to which life with any chronic condition can affect multiple body organs.
Every chronic medical condition puts a toll on the body of the person who must live with that condition. Sickle cell anemia, the most significant symptom associated with sickle cell disease, presents a decided challenge to a number of body organs. That challenge can, over time, result in severe damage to those same organs.
A young child with sickle cell anemia can not give each cell in his or her body an adequate amount of oxygen. In such a child, a hemoglobin S type of protein has replaced the body’s normal hemoglobin. That hemoglobin has given the child crescent-shaped red blood cells and it has prevented delivery of an optimal amount of oxygen to every cell in the child’s body.
The decreased delivery of oxygen slowly diminishes the functionality of certain cells. The child’s lungs, kidneys, bones, eyes and central nervous system gradually demonstrate a declining level of performance. Over time, such a decline can lead to one of three catastrophic series of changes. A body in the throes of such changes is said to be in a crisis.
Sometimes repeated episodes of sickle cell anemia can lead to a hemolytic crisis. Such a crisis results from a breakdown of the crescent-shaped red blood cells. The broken cells do not flow easily through the blood vessels. They form clots and thus inflict severe damage on a child’s or a teen’s kidneys, lungs, and eyes.
Sometimes repeated episodes of sickle cell anemia can lead to something called a splenic sequestration. That too signals that the body is in a crisis situation. A child or teen suffers a splenic sequestration when his or her spleen enlarges and traps red blood cells. That then causes the cells in the body to receive an even lower level of oxygen.
A third type of crisis can result from an infection. It is called an aplastic crisis. A child or teen hit with such a crisis lacks the ability to produce red blood cells. An infection has managed to damage the functionality of the bone marrow.
The parents of a child who suffers repeated bouts of sickle cell anemia must make every effort to become aware of how the child’s body changes, as a result of that anemia. The parent should note, for example, that a child with sickle cell anemia will have a higher than normal white blood cell count.
A parent should not allow such a child to use medications or supplements that could raise even further the child’s white blood cell count. Those substances would not benefit the child. They would only hasten the expected damage to a number of the child’s most vital organs.
Physicians want patients with sickle cell anemia to prepare themselves for a full and useful life. Medicine does help a person with the sickle cell trait to become a productive member of society. Still, such a person must realize the toll that any chronic condition places on far more than one body organ.
A patient who understands the extent to which sickle cell anemia can affect multiple body organs has the ability to foresee potential medical problems, problems that could be life-changing.
http://articles.syl.com/assessingtheconsequencesofsicklecellanemia.html
