The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. By~William James
Since 2009 World Sickle Cell Disease Day has been observed and thankfully Sickle Cell Disease is now being given the global attention it both needs and deserves. Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease in which hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying pigment found in our red blood cells, is abnormal. Hemoglobin is the substance that makes your blood red. Over 10% of my fellow Jamaicans have the sickle cell gene.
Normal red blood cells, with normal hemoglobin, are disk shaped and flexible, able to squeeze through the smallest blood vessels in the body. On the other hand, sickle cells, because of their abnormal sickle or crescent shape, can block small blood vessels and impede the flow of blood. This reduces the oxygen supply to tissues, may damage many organs and cause severe pain, in what doctors call ‘painful crises’. While normal red blood cells live for about 120 days, sickle cells with their abnormal hemoglobin die after only 10 to 20 days, causing chronic anemia. Other common problems include lung and breathing difficulties, chronic leg ulcers, jaundice, liver enlargement and an increased susceptibility to infections.
Sickle-cell anemia and its many variants like sickle-cell trait are genetic disorders and cannot be "cured" in the conventional sense. However, medical research and the emerging speciality of “epigenetics” clearly demonstrates that we are not helpless victims of our genes. Simple lifestyle modification involving things like good nutrition and nutritional supplements can help to moderate many of the problems of sickle-cell anemia. This can mean fewer problems with anemia and pain, and improvements in the general health of those with this illness.