You can prepare for a crisis in advance by creating a pain management plan with your doctor. This plan should include not only the types of medicines you can take at home but also other actions you can take at home to relieve pain.
Also, your plan helps you know when to call your doctor or go to a hospital. It isn't always possible to know what sets off a crisis, but triggers include dehydration , cold temperatures, infection, stress, and low oxygen intake. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: E. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor.
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But medical information is always changing, and some information given here may be out of date. For regularly updated information on a variety of health topics, please visit familydoctor. See related article on sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is a hereditary problem that causes a type of faulty hemoglobin in red blood cells.
Hemoglobin carries oxygen in the blood. Normal red blood cells are disc-shaped and very flexible. In sickle cell disease, some red blood cells can change shape so that they look like sickles or crescent moons. Because of their shape, they don't move well through the smallest blood vessels.
This can stop or slow blood flow to parts of the body, causing less oxygen to reach these areas. A sickle cell crisis is pain that can begin suddenly and last several hours to several days. It happens when sickled red blood cells block small blood vessels that carry blood to your bones. You might have pain in your back, knees, legs, arms, chest or stomach.
The pain can be throbbing, sharp, dull or stabbing. How often and how bad the pain gets varies a lot from person to person and from crisis to crisis. You might be able to treat your pain crisis at home with medicines that you take by mouth. If these medicines don't control your pain, you can't keep fluids down or you know that you're having severe pain, you might need to be treated in the emergency department.
If your pain still isn't controlled or you have other problems, you might need to be treated in the hospital. Most of the time, you won't know what caused your sickle cell crisis. A crisis usually has more than one cause. However, you can do several things that might keep a crisis from occurring: Don't drink a lot of alcohol. Exercise regularly but not so much that you become really tired. When you exercise, drink lots of fluids. Reduce or avoid stress. Talk to your doctor if you're depressed or have problems with your family or job.
Wear warm clothes outside in cold weather and inside in air-conditioned rooms during hot weather. Also, don't swim in cold water. Tell your doctor if you think you might have a sleep problem, such as snoring or if you sometimes stop breathing during sleep. Only travel in commercial airplanes. If you have to travel in an unpressurized aircraft, talk to your doctor about extra precautions. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Is a Sickle Cell Crisis?
What Causes a Pain Crisis? If you have a pain crisis, tell an adult what's going on. To help ease the pain, you can: Try relaxation techniques and distraction. Apply warm compresses where it hurts never use ice or cold packs. Drink lots of water and other non-caffeinated beverages. Take over-the-counter pain medicines, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. But to lower your chances of having a crisis, you can: Take all the medicines your doctor recommends as directed. Drink plenty of water all the time, but especially when exercising and on hot days Get enough rest.
Avoid extreme temperatures — for example, dress warmly when going outdoors in winter.
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