D57.8: Other sickle-cell disorders

You have sickle cell disease. This disease means the haemoglobin in the red blood cells is not being formed correctly. This condition is congenital, which means you were born with it.

Blood is made up of a liquid part and different blood cells, among other things. The blood cells include the red blood cells, the white blood cells and the platelets. The red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. Red blood cells contain the red hemoglobin that gives blood its color. This pigment is important for carrying oxygen in the blood.

Under certain conditions, sickle cell disease results in the red blood cells deforming like a sickle. The red blood cells are then less agile than usual and can particularly damage small blood vessels. If the red blood cells are broken down sooner than they normally are as a result, then you usually don’t have enough haemoglobin. Blood clots that can damage various organs can also form. The disease occurs mainly in Africa and Southeast Europe.

The disease is hereditary. Other family members may also be affected. The symptoms will depend on how the disease is inherited. A distinction is made between a mild form and a severe form. If you have the mild form, you don’t usually have any symptoms in everyday life or only a few. However, sometimes you get symptoms with heavy physical exertion, for example. This can make you exhausted quickly or get breathless, for example. Sometimes the kidneys do not work properly and the urine can turn red.