Symptoms
The symptoms of Sickle Cell Anaemia differ from individuals and can be categorised by those symptoms relating to Anaemia and those relating to pain:
Symptoms of Anaemia:
The main symptom is fatigue – feeling tired or week. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, a rapid pulse, heart palpitations, coldness in the hands and feet, pale skin and chest pain.
Symptoms of pain:
Sudden pain throughout the body is a common symptom of this disorder. This sudden pain is called a Sickle Cell crisis and is common in the bones, lungs, abdomen and joints.
This crisis occurs when a clump of red blood cells builds up into the blood vessels due to the sickling.
This blocks blood through the small vessels to the organs and exterior limbs, this causes pain and organ damage.
The pain from sickle cell crises can be acute or chronic, but acute pain is more common. Acute pain is sudden and can range from mild to very severe. The pain usually lasts from hours to a few days.
Chronic pain often lasts for weeks to months.
Almost all people who have Sickle Cell Anemia have painful crises at some point in their lives. Some have these crises less than once a year. Others may have 15 or more crises in a year.
The risk for a sickle cell crisis increases if you're dehydrated or have an infection.
Other Crises:
Hemolytic crisis occurs when damaged red blood cells break down
Splenic sequestration crisis is when the spleen enlarges and traps the blood cells
Aplastic crisis results when an infection causes the bone marrow to stop producing red blood cells
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) is also an easily presented symptom in this disorder, and is caused by liver damage or dysfunction.
Symptoms in infants:
Sickle Cell Anaemia normally presents itself in the first year of life. Infants symptoms are normally fever, abdominal pain, pneumococcal bacterial infections and splenic sequestration.
These symptoms are the basic conditions in Sickle Cell Anamia, but the rapid breaking down of cells and the blood vessels clogging causes many secondary problems. See "Complications" for more details.
