Dealing with Sickle Cell Without Using Drugs

My daughter who is 12 years old (has SS)is thinking about taking Hydroxyurea instead of getting monthly blood transfusions. If Hydroxyurea is not right for sickle cell people what other thing can they take or do if they don’t want the blood monthly? Do you know? First of all, know that I’m not a licensed…

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Support Group Tonight!

Today is the sickle cell support group. I’m actually excited and looking forward to going, I feel like I’ve been waiting for them all month long. I wanna ask about the avascular necrosis and I’m supposed to take some L-Arginine over there to share with folks. It promises to be a real interesting session.

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Sickle Cell Support Group

Last week when I saw my hematologist, he encouraged me to be part of a support group. Norio has been pushing for me to join one for months, but I’ve always resisted. Besides the support I got from my friends, family, this blog and the online forum, I didn’t think I needed anything else. He…

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I Have Bad Veins

One of the commonalities of sickle cell warriors is that fact that after a zillion hospital admissions and ER visits, eventually, our veins go into hiding from all the trauma. The medications that help us also help to scare the beejesus out of our veins as well as all those blood draws! My hands are…

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Going to the ER with Sickle Cell

For some reason, the medical profession, especially in the US has a limited view of sickle cell. First of all, they think that people with the trait can’t have pain—THAT IS A MYTH! Just because they don’t have the full out disease, doesn’t mean that pain doesn’t exist in the life of a carrier too.…

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Energy Boost with L-Arginine

I just got my replacement bottle of Arginine in the mail today. I ran out before the replacements came and although I didn’t fall sick (which I was worried might happen), I did spend the last week being really tired and exhausted. Normally I wake up at noon, chill for a couple of hours and…

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Sickle Cell & Cold

Today I was asked a question by a friend, “Which do you like better, hot or cold?” My answer was a vehement HOT! Not just because it’s so miserable being cold but mainly because when I’m cold for a period of time (like more than 20 minutes), I put myself at a higher risk of…

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My Epiphany About Sickle Cell

When I was a freshman in college, I worked part time at the Social Sciences building for this teacher, grading reports and filing her paperwork. It was my first semester, and although I had alot of friends and acquaintances, I was still operating under my former credo (Tell No one). One day I was walking…

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10 Things Good About Sickle Cell

Okay, I’m not here just to whine and complain. So in the spirit of giving thanks, I’m listing the top 10 reasons I can think of why it’s great to be a sickle cell warrior. You get a free “get out of work” pass from school, work or home whenever you are feeling tired, down…

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Road Trip

I’ve spent the last couple of days with Norion in the car driving from San Francisco to Portland, OR. He very wisely decided to break the trip in 2 segments, allowing it only to be about 4 hours for me in the car. I was really worried about travelling such a long distance, but now…

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