Acute vaso-occlusive pain is associated with the onset of menstruation, and about 25% of the women with sickle cell disease can differentiate these episodes from menstrual-cramp pain, a study found. Findings in the study, “Acute Vaso-Occlusive Pain is Temporally Associated with the Onset of Menstruation in Women with Sickle Cell Disease,” published in the Journal of Women’s Health, supported “our…
‘I talk to the disorder and it listens. I set it limits and it abides. I tell it I have a mission in life, feed it medication and lots of water; then I push strongly on with my ambition.’
Crizanlizumab is a monthly infusion under development to prevent pain crises (also called vaso-occlusive crises, or VOCs) in patients with sickle cell disease Sickle cell VOCs, which are triggered by multi-cell adhesion or clusters of cells that block or reduce blood flow, are associated with increased morbidity and mortality1 FDA filing of crizanlizumab anticipated in…
When Gail Campbell Woolley was seven, a pediatrician told her mother that Gail suffered from sickle cell anemia, a rare blood disease, and that she would be dead by age 35. While others may have responded to this horrifying news by descending into a fog of self-pity, Gail went in the opposite direction. She decided…
When both parents have sickle cell trait (SCT), there is a 1 in 4 chance that each of their children will have sickle cell disease (SCD). For Fatimah’s mother and father, who both have SCT, their first daughter (Fatimah’s older sister) was born with SCD; 7 years later, Fatimah was also born with SCD. ‘I…
For eight consecutive years, stunningly beautiful Zandra Chidinma Nwogu, 35 had been crises-free. All of a sudden, on November 27, 2018, as she prepared for an appointment slated to take place the next day, sickle cell crises erupted. ‘I was cleaning my shoes when I felt this sharp pain course through my neck, spine and…
Meet Toyin Adesola, radio presenter, author, baker, economist, blogger, motivational speaker, philanthropist, tireless SCD activist and daughter of former Unilag VC, Prof Akin Adesola She was born at a time when SCD diagnosis was not a straight-forward thing as it is today. It took one out of a pack of medical doctors to figure out…
From the beginning, Otunba Olajuwon Okubena had scant interest in traditional medicine, much less in becoming a practitioner himself. After resigning from KPMG, the international accounting firm at which he rose to senior management level, Otunba Okubena took to livestock farming, aiming to develop a hobby into a retirement money-spinner. He was in his farm…
Interview with Nyetta Dienagha If I could I would make it so that this disease never existed – Nyeta Dienagha Nyetta was born in Columbia Missouri and has three brothers, all of whom have the trait. She has visited Nigeria twice because her father is native Nigerian. When did your family find out that you…