Symptoms

When diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, as an infant, the symptoms are not seen immediately. Usually the symptoms do not occur until after 4 months⁶. Patients that have sickle cell anemia experience chronic pain that is very severe. This pain may last from hours to days and even continue on for weeks.

Blood clotting because of sickle shaped red blood cells. Image taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieH5VQXiYVOTwfZlkYHw5Gqykiy7N_AlOwtdBJ1lyyM8KQcQJhqfd1fjA1-iIDw4R1ReoeFF4XRH_ARk2bR_nCzUunkHaMSJHOf2jOPdUuj_PQJeerI_ln2ekaFEcV19RO0rQmXbQzXFHo/s1600/Sickle_cell+2.png

Common symptoms of this disease are extreme pains, hand-foot syndrome, frequent infections, pale skin, and any signs or symptoms of strokes. The extreme pains are caused by sickle shaped blood cells that clog in parts of your body like your chest or abdomen, this pain can also happen in your bones. Hand-foot syndrome is when your hands and feet swell caused by the blockage of blood flow in your hands and feet. This is mostly noticeable in infants. Frequent infections are a symptom because the sickle cells may possibly damage your spleen which fights infections in your body. Once the spleen is damaged you body becomes less immune towards infections. Pale skin is caused by a decrease in red blood cells, this is common for patients diagnosed with sickle cell anemia because the sickle cell only lasts for 10 to 20 days where as a healthy blood cell lasts for 120 days¹. This results in a constant shortage of red blood cells which can potentially be life threatening. Symptoms of strokes may occur because of insufficient blood flow throughout the body.

Symptoms shown in an infant. Image taken from http://wikieducator.org/images/6/60/Sickelcells2.jpg