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| WHAT TRIGGERS SICKLE CELL CRISIS? |
WHAT TRIGGERS SICKLE CELL CRISIS? — Part 1
Imagine that after doing all you know to stay healthy, you still get sick. Why? Because some sickle cell crisis triggers are unknown.
One day while I was in church, a brother asked me: “if you already know the things that trigger sickle cell then why don’t you just avoid them so you won’t be sick?” Well, I find such thinking illogical. Yes we do know and try to avoid many of the triggers to sickle cell crisis, however even with that, you can still get sick. It's just like being clean and making sure your environment is clean doesn’t mean you will never get ill.
In the same way, sicklers do the best they can to avoid getting sick, but sometimes they still end up with a crisis for no apparent reason. The best thing you can do for someone who is suffering is to try to be understanding and be empathetic and not judge them.
A Few Things That Can Trigger Sickle Cell Crisis Include;
Infections( including malaria Infection): Sickle cell patients have a weak immune system making them easily prone to infections. I often suffer from pneumonia. When this happens, my lungs get affected, causing breathing difficulties that lead to hypoxia and sickling.
A Few Things That Can Trigger Sickle Cell Crisis Include;
Infections( including malaria Infection): Sickle cell patients have a weak immune system making them easily prone to infections. I often suffer from pneumonia. When this happens, my lungs are affected, and I have difficulties breathing, leading to hypoxia and sickling.
Exercise: Of course we know that exercise causes body exertion. When you exert your body, it uses up more oxygen. Sickle cells already have a limited capacity to carry oxygen due to their sickle shape and this is intensified during exercise. This causes low oxygen in the red blood cells. causing them to stick together, block blood vessels and cause severe pain.
My personal Triggers are stress, strenuous exercise, anemia, infections and extreme temperatures.
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