Symptoms

Common symptoms of sickle cell anaemia include:

• Fatigue.
• pain.
• shortness of breath.
• dizziness.
• headaches
• cold hands and feet.
• Palpitations (thumping of the heart). 
• Ulcers on the leg. 

For more information and guidance on these symtoms as well as advice visit NHS Choices (www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Sickle-cell-anaemia/Pages/Symptoms.aspx).

There are a number of different conditions influenced by the sickle shaped blood cell:

• Vaso-occlusive Crisis: Due to the decreased mobillity and flexibillity red blood cells get trapped in small capillaries and restrict the blood flow which causes ischaemia (restriction in blood supply), pain, necrosis (premature death of cells and living tissue) and organ damage.

• Splenic Sequestration Crisis: The spleen consists of many narrow blood vessels which are damged by the sickle cells which induces infarcts increasing the risk of infection. Symptoms include pain, hypovolaemia (decrease blood volume) and a bloated abdomen.

• Aplastic Crisis: Parovirus B19 affects erythropoiesis (red blood cell production), destroying red blood cells. This leads to pallor (pale skin, due to lack of oxygen in the blood), tachycardia (increase in heart rate) and fatigue, if not quickly treated can result in death.

• Haemolytic Crisis: Drop in the level of haemoglobin due to increased rate of red blood cell breakdown. People with Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, an enzyme involved with red blood cell metabolism, are more susceptible to this.