Swimming with Sickle Cell

I got a question from a reader in Egypt that loves to swim but has a painful episode after each swimming session.

For sickle cell warriors, my advice is not to swim in cold water. The main thing about swimming is that it drops your core body temperature, increasing the work load of your circulatory system to keep your internal temperature in a good range. In addition, you are probably decreasing your oxygen saturation with the exertion. If you go scuba diving or into the deep sea, the atmospheric pressure underwater drops and this decreases the ability of your hemoglobin to hang on to oxygen—all in all not a good recipe for a sickle cell survivor. In fact it’s a direct trip to pain city, not passing go.

There are alot of people that just love the water, my guy is one of them. He’s most comfortable when he’s wet and just loves anything related to water. My suggestion is to try a heated pool, jacuzzi or swimming when it’s warmer. Besides that I recommend the usual, hydration, taking your pain meds and avoiding stress. Personally I don’t swim anymore, it’s just too painful. If I must I wade in the water, but only for a short period of time and then I’m back on the beach warming up.

Milan told me she got invited to the beach and had to make excuses why she couldn’t go. Personally I love to frolic on the beach, watching people, playing games, having a great time and enjoying the sun. So don’t let sickle cell limit your life to that extent, go to the beach, just know your limitations regarding the water.

2 thoughts on “Swimming with Sickle Cell”

  1. My five year old son has scd and is doing amazingly well and hasn’t missed one day of school this year since he started taking dioscovite please make people aware of this wonder supplement

  2. Deus colocou em minhas maos um gerreiro ,,meu filho foi a 0bito dia 17 de junho ele tinha apenas 7 aninhos foi os 7 anos mais feliz da minha vida e le tambem graças a Deus mei filhinho sofreu pouco.quase nao tinha inernaçao ,as vezes 2 vezes ao ano com crises dolorosas,e outras com penamonia era uma criança alegre feliz,bricava muito,nem parecia que era portador de falciforme.mais derrepente tudo acabou com ele.por causa de uma sepse cravissima que acabou com seus orgao em apenas 3 dias,fico pensando porque Deus levou meu filhinho tao novo,elepoderia ter vividomais.um pouco tou desesperada,pois unico filho do meu marido,estamos desesperados por saber que nunca mas vamos poder ter filhos novamente.existe algum tipo de tyratamento para nos dois.o que vamos fazer agora.sozinhos.estamos acabados com essa dor terrivel penssei que meu filho ia viver ate pelo menos seus 20 ,ou 30 aninhos,mais sabemos quem tem essa doença o tempo de vida so depende do senhor,e a hora do meu amor,chegou.

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