how does sickle cell anemia affect a person?
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Organ damage. Sickle cells that block blood flow to organs deprive the affected organs of blood and oxygen. In sickle cell anemia, blood is also chronically low in oxygen. This lack of oxygen-rich blood can damage nerves and organs, including your kidneys, liver and spleen, and can be fatal.
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Sickle cell disease is caused by abnormal hemoglobin in your red blood cells, which can change the shape of the cells into a “sickle” shape. These blood cells break apart more easily and get trapped in blood vessels, causing pain or even organ damage.
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The signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease are caused by the sickling of red blood cells. When red blood cells sickle, they break down prematurely, which can lead to anemia. Anemia can cause shortness of breath, fatigue, and delayed growth and development in children.
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Sickle cell anemia can lead to a host of complications, including: Stroke. Sickle cells can block blood flow to an area of your brain. Signs of stroke include seizures, weakness or numbness of your arms and legs, sudden speech difficulties, and loss of consciousness.
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Some examples include: hearing loss, vision problems, acute chest syndrome, jaundice, priapism (persistent and painful erections), leg ulcers, gallstones, and stroke. Sickle cell anemia also can have a negative impact on the mental health of patients and may lead to depression and anxiety.
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Episodes of pain. Periodic episodes of pain, called pain crises, are a major symptom of sickle cell anemia. Pain develops when sickle-shaped red blood cells block blood flow through tiny blood vessels to your chest, abdomen and joints. Pain can also occur in your bones.
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People with sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells that can cause problems because they do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels. Sickle cell disease is a serious and lifelong health condition, although treatment can help manage many of the symptoms.
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Death. Some inherited anemias, such as sickle cell anemia, can lead to life-threatening complications. Losing a lot of blood quickly results in acute, severe anemia and can be fatal.
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Sickle cell disease is a group of disorders that affects hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells throughout the body. People with this disorder have atypical hemoglobin molecules called hemoglobin S, which can distort red blood cells into a sickle, or crescent, shape.
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Causes. Sickle cell anemia is caused by a mutation in the gene that tells your body to make the iron-rich compound that makes blood red and enables red blood cells to carry oxygen from your lungs throughout your body (hemoglobin).
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Sickle cell disease affects how your body makes red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout your body. Red blood cells are normally flat, flexible discs. But if you have sickle cell disease, your body makes red blood cells that are stiff and shaped like a crescent, or a sickle.
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Key points about sickle cell disease in children They get stuck in small blood vessels and block blood flow. This blockage can cause pain and lead to infection. It can also damage a child's major organs, and cause a stroke. Newborns are checked for sickle cell disease as part of a group of screening tests.
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In sickle cell anemia, the red blood are shaped like sickles or crescent moons. These rigid, sticky cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which can slow or block blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body.
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In pregnancy, it is important for blood cells to be able to carry oxygen. With sickle cell anemia, the abnormal red blood cells and anemia may result in lower amounts of oxygen going to your developing baby. This can slow down the baby's growth.
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Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect the red blood cells. The most serious type is called sickle cell anaemia. Sickle cell disease is particularly common in people with an African or Caribbean family background.
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A person whose body makes only sickle cell hemoglobin will suffer symptoms of sickle cell anemia. These occur because the glutamic acid-to-valine amino acid change makes the hemoglobin molecules assemble into long fibers. The fibers distort disc-shaped red blood cells into crescent shapes.
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Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease that affects red blood cells with an abnormal version of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen throughout the body. The altered hemoglobin is known as hemoglobin S, or sickle hemoglobin, because it causes normally oval-shaped red blood cells to assume a sickle shape.