Sickle Cell Disease Symptoms
Know when to seek emergency medical care. Sickle cell disease can lead to life-threatening health problems. If you think that you or someone else is having a serious symptom, seek medical care or call 9-1-1 right away.
Sickle cell disease is an disease, which means you are born with it. However, most babies do not have problems from the disease before they are about 5 or 6 months old.
Symptoms of sickle cell disease vary from person to person and can change over time. How the disease affects your body affects the type of symptoms you have.
People who inherit only one copy of the S gene have sickle cell trait. They usually don’t have symptoms of sickle cell disease. As carriers, they can pass the faulty gene to their children.
A person’s hemoglobin also affect symptoms. Some people have only one copy of the hemoglobin S gene, but they also inherited another faulty hemoglobin gene, such as the gene for thalassemia. They may have serious symptoms of sickle cell disease even though they only have one hemoglobin S gene.
Sickle Cell Disease Fact Sheet
Learn basics about sickle cell disease, including symptoms, how to prevent health problems and treatment options.
Early symptoms
- A yellowish color of the skin ( ) or whites of the eyes (icterus) that occurs when many red cells undergo
- Extreme tiredness or fussiness from anemia, which occurs when your body does not get enough oxygen because of a shortage of healthy red blood cells
- Painful swelling of the hands and feet, known as
Know when to seek emergency medical care
Serious symptoms of sickle cell disease are emergencies and need treatment right away. Seek care or call 9-1-1 if you or someone else is experiencing:
- Severe pain. A serious pain event is sometimes called a “pain crisis,” “sickle cell crisis,” or “vaso-occlusive crisis.” Most people with sickle cell disease have this often-serious pain. It may occur in children as young as 1 year old. Serious pain linked with sickle cell disease often requires treatment in a clinic or hospital.
- (extreme tiredness), shortness of breath, dizziness, and irregular heartbeat. These are symptoms of serious anemia. Life-threatening anemia can be caused by conditions such as a crisis or an .
- Fever. If you have a fever of more than 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38.5 degrees Celsius, seek attention from a healthcare provider and treatment with antibiotics right away. Some people need to be hospitalized for care.
- Chest pain, coughing, fever, and shortness of breath. These symptoms may be suggestive of acute chest syndrome requiring treatment in a hospital, where you may receive antibiotics, oxygen therapy, and/or a blood transfusion.
- Sudden weakness, numbness on one side of the body, confusion, or trouble speaking, seeing, or walking. Call 9-1-1 if you’re showing any of these warning signs of a stroke.
- Priapism. Having an erection that lasts for 4 hours or more is an emergency. You will need to go to the hospital and see a hematologist (a doctor who specializes in blood conditions and diseases) and a urologist (a doctor who specializes in treating conditions of the reproductive and urinary systems). Priapism can lead to erectile dysfunction, so it is important to get treatment as soon as possible.
Learn more about these and other complications of sickle cell disease.
Tips to Manage Your Pain From Sickle Cell Disease
Learn about pain management and how you can prevent serious problems associated with sickle cell disease.