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About Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder affecting millions, causing chronic pain and serious complications. Managing this lifelong condition often involves expensive medications and frequent care. TheDrugClub offers a simple solution, helping you access vital treatments at a lower cost, ensuring your health remains a priority without undue financial strain.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Normally, red blood cells are flexible and round, moving easily through blood vessels. However, in SCD, the hemoglobin is abnormal, causing red blood cells to become rigid, sticky, and crescent-shaped, resembling a sickle.
These sickle cells don't last as long as healthy red blood cells, leading to a chronic shortage of red blood cells (anemia). More critically, they can get stuck in small blood vessels, blocking blood flow and oxygen delivery to various parts of the body. This blockage can cause severe pain episodes, known as pain crises, and lead to organ damage, stroke, acute chest syndrome, and increased susceptibility to infections. The severity of SCD varies greatly among individuals, but it is a lifelong condition requiring ongoing medical management.
Treatment for sickle cell disease focuses on managing symptoms, preventing complications, and improving quality of life. Common treatments and medications include pain relievers (like NSAIDs or opioids during crises), antibiotics to prevent infections, and folic acid supplements. Hydroxyurea is a cornerstone medication that can reduce the frequency of pain crises and the need for blood transfusions. Newer therapies, such as voxelotor and crizanlizumab, offer additional options to improve hemoglobin levels and reduce pain crises. In some cases, blood transfusions are necessary, and a bone marrow transplant (stem cell transplant) can offer a cure, though it's a complex procedure with significant risks.
The cost of these essential medications can be a heavy burden for individuals and families managing SCD. That's where TheDrugClub steps in. For a low monthly membership fee – $19.95 for individuals or $39.95 for families – you gain access to significant
The information above is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult your healthcare provider before making medication decisions.
MedlinePlus overview of Sickle Cell Disease
What is sickle cell disease (SCD)?
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. If you have SCD, there is a problem with your hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. With SCD, the hemoglobin forms into stiff rods within the red blood cells. This changes the shape of the red blood cells. The cells are supposed to be disc-shaped, but instead they are crescent, or sickle, shaped.
The sickle-shaped cells are not flexible and cannot change shape easily. Many of them burst apart as they move through your blood vessels. The sickle cells usually only last 10 to 20 days, instead of the normal 90 to 120 days. Your body may have trouble making enough new cells to replace the ones that you lost. Because of this, you may not have enough red blood cells. This is a condition called anemia, and it can make you feel tired.
The sickle-shaped cells can also stick to vessel walls, causing a blockage that slows or stops the flow of blood. When this happens, oxygen can't reach nearby tissues. The lack of oxygen can cause attacks of sudden, severe pain, called pain crises. These attacks can occur without warning. If you get one, you might need to go to the hospital for treatment.
What causes sickle cell disease (SCD)?
SCD is caused by a variant (change) in a gene that has instructions for your body to make one part of the hemoglobin. This changed gene is sometimes called a sickle cell gene. People with SCD are born with two sickle cell genes, one from each parent.
If you are born with one sickle cell gene, it's called sickle cell trait. People with sickle cell trait are generally healthy, but they can pass the defective gene on to their children.
Who is more likely to have sickle cell disease (SCD)?
In the United States, most of the people with SCD are African Americans:
About 1 in 13 Black or African American babies are born with sickle cell trait
About 1 in every 365 Black or African American babies are born with sickle cell disease
SCD also affects some people who come from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern, or Asian Indian backgrounds.
What are the symptoms of sickle cell disease (SCD)?
People with SCD start to have signs of the disease during the first year of life, usually around 5 or 6 months of age. Early symptoms of SCD may include:
Painful swelling of the hands and feet
Fatigue or fussiness from anemia
A yellowish color of the skin (jaundice) or the whites of the eyes (icterus)
The effects of SCD vary from person to person and can change over time. Most of the signs and symptoms of SCD are related to complications of the disease. They may include severe pain, anemia, organ damage, and infections.
How is sickle cell disease (SCD) diagnosed?
A blood test can show if you have SCD or sickle cell trait. Genetic tests can tell if you have one or two copies of the sickle cell gene. Genetic tests can help confirm an SCD diagnosis if the results from blood tests are not clear.
All states now test newborns for SCD (as well as many other treatable conditions) as part of their screening programs. These programs help find the conditions early, so treatment can be started right away.
Health care providers can also diagnose SCD before a baby is born. That test uses a sample of amniotic fluid (the liquid in the sac surrounding the baby) or tissue taken from the placenta (the organ that brings oxygen and nutrients to the baby).
People who are thinking about having children can have the test to find out how likely it is that their children will have SCD.
What are the treatments for sickle cell disease (SCD)?
There are many ways to manage sickle cell disease. Your medical team will probably include a hematologist, a doctor who specializes in blood diseases. You will work with your medical team to set up a treatment plan. Possible treatment options may include:
Treatments that can help relieve symptoms and lessen complications, including: Hydroxyurea, a medicine to reduce sickling of red blood cells. This can help prevent serious symptoms of sickle cell disease. This medicine can be used in adults and in children as young as 9 months old. But this medicine is not safe during pregnancy.
Voxelotor, another medicine to prevent the sickling of red blood cells. It can be used in adults and children ages 4 years and older.
Pain relievers for acute or chronic pain.
Antibiotics to try to prevent infections in younger children.
Blood transfusions for severe anemia. If you have had some serious complications, such as a stroke, you may have transfusions to prevent more complications.
Other treatments for specific complications, such as medicines to lower blood pressure and vitamins to treat a vitamin deficiency.
Bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, which can cure SCD. Because these transplants are risky and can have serious side effects, they are usually only used in children with severe SCD. For the transplant to work, the bone marrow must be a close match. Usually, the best donor is a brother or sister.
Gene therapies to treat SCD in people who are 12 years and older and have had repeated sickle cell crises. These new therapies involve taking some of your blood stem cells and either adding new DNA to them or changing their existing DNA. Then these cells are given back to you, and they can make a type of hemoglobin that is healthy. This can reduce the complications of SCD, including the SCD crises.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) seems to help some people deal with pain caused by SCD. These types of CAM may lower your pain, especially if it is not well managed with medicines::
Cognitive behavioral therapy (a type of counseling)
Acupuncture
Exercise or movement programs, such as yoga
Massage
Meditation and mindfulness practices
Virtual reality, a computer-generated 3D environment you can see with special goggles
It's also important to take steps to keep yourself as healthy as possible:
Get regular medical care
Get your routine vaccinations
Live a healthy lifestyle
Avoid situations that may set off a pain crisis
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Source: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus topic page. Topic date: 09/23/1999. MedlinePlus file date: 10/15/2026 02:30:37.
This information is educational and is not medical advice.