Sickle cell anaemia is an inherted genetic condition in which there's an abnormality in haemoglobin, the oxygen-carring protein found in red blood cells.
People with sickle cell anaemia have a type of haemoglobin known as sickle haemoglobin, which is different from normal haemoglobin(HbA). Normal red blood cells can bend and flex easily, and so travel around the blood vessel easily. When sickle haemoglobin gives up its oxygen to the tissues, it sticks together to form long rods inside the red blood cells, making these cell rigid and sickle-shaped. They are then less able to squeeze through small blood vessels. These small blood vessels easily become blocked, preventing oxygen from getting through and causing severe pain and damage to the organs.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Blockage of a blood vessel cause an attack known as a crisis. this is more likely to happen when the person is stressed by another illness, exhaustion, cold, dehydration and other problems.
organs such as the liver, kidney, heart, lungs and spleen become demaged, causing severe pain, especially in the red blood cells also break up easily, leading to anaemia.
WHO'S AFFECTED?
More than 12,500 people in the UK have sickle cell anaemia. the majority of them are of africans or carbbean descent, although it also affects those from asia, the middle East and the Eastern mediterranean. Those who have one HbA gene and one HbS gene are said to have sickle cell trait. Sickle cell anaemia is an autosomal recessive genetic condition. Everyone has two copies of the haemoglobin gene, one from each parent. those with sickle cell anaemia have two HbS genes. Those who have one HbA genes and one HbS gene are said to have sickle cell trait.
There are 240,000 carriers of sickle cell anaemia and they're only at risk of problem uner extreme condititons, such as during major surgery.
HOW'S IT DIAGNOSED?
Testing during pregnancy, from elven 11 weeks and usually with CVS (Chorionic Villus Sampling), can identify the haemoglobin type of the body, while adults can easily be screened.
WHAT'S THE TREATMENT?
There's nocure for sickle cell anaemia, but the frequency and severity of crises and their complications can be reduced by prompt recognition and treatment. Bone marrow transplants have been used in some cases and, while it is still early days, the proceduce hold promise for the future.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
FOUR WAYS TO MAKE YOUR HEALTH BETTER.
Exceptions can be made for athletes and those that are pushing their bodies to the limit for longer periods of time, for instance when engaged in some form of cardio for more than an hour at a time. If you fit within this category, you should look into electrolyte replenishing sports drinks designed for endurance activities. Reduce your alcohol intake, a few hard drinks a month is more than enough. Regular alcohol consumption, daily, bi-daily even weekly, is severely detrimental to your health and well being. It is taxing and dehydrating to your body, making many normal functions difficult to manage, and over time when your body is not allowed ample time to recover from such abuse, can cause exponential dysfunctions like a domino effect on your health.
Now let's talk about eating; fuel for your body - what you put in your mouth in the way of food; meat, grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, essentials oils and fats. I am going to start by identifying the types of meat which when eaten sparingly to moderately are acceptable, and also that which should be avoided entirely. My recommendation is that a person should consume, in moderation - preferably sparingly; white lean options such as poultry and seafood (fish, shellfish). Stay away from all red meat and fatty salty pork (especially bacon and sausage). Meat in all forms is hard on our digestive systems, often causing irregularity and bloating. Think about what meat is; rotting flesh, flesh that has been built to endure - so it is naturally tough and difficult to break down. Other animals like tigers and lions and wolves were equipped with the right digestive tools to survive on a diet of raw flesh. We weren't. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice filet or New York strip once or twice a year, but I honestly keep it to an absolute minimum - and man do I feel it for days afterwards as my stomach gurgles and bubbles like a sputtering geyser. I know everyone talks about eating whatever you want in moderation, but when you think about that statement, it's just an excuse for the weak of will - and it sounds convincing. Think about it, everything in moderation; OK, how about you go right ahead and eat worms, dung, tree bark, dirt, and drink some motor oil while you're at it. It won't kill you the first time, and maybe someone can promote eating these things to make it sound like it is good for you. The bottom line, use your head and listen to your body; if what you eat causes constant bloating, stomach pain, irregularity, weight gain, cramps, foul excretion and so on and so forth, do you think you should continue to eat it on a regular daily or weekly basis? A great substitution for consuming protein is beans; black beans, pinto beans, lima beans...Oh, and what about iron? I hear this one all the time; someone is craving meat so they think that means that their body needs iron. Wrong, cravings usually never have anything at all to do with what you need, but everything to do with what you want. Iron is readily available in much easier to digest sources of food such as dark green leafy vegetables, yams, sweet potatoes, seeds, and some fruits. These sources of iron are classified as non-Heme sources. This means that in order to equate to the type of iron derived from eating meat, it needs to be paired with vitamin C. How convenient, most of these vegetarian sources of iron are also laden with vitamin C, and almost everything you drink and eat today is fortified with vitamin C, so that shouldn't be a problem.
As far as grains go, it depends on what your goal is. If you want to lose weight, then you should stick with 2 or less servings of grains. If you are not concerned with losing weight then 2 to 4 servings per day is fine. Stick to 100% whole grains, and stay away from enriched refined grains. Eat the grainiest stuff you can find and your body will love you more, the more you have to crunch and chew the better. Fruit, fruit, the magical fruit, eat a lot of it! 4 to 6 servings a day no matter who you are, make sure it is fresh fruit and not canned, frozen is your next best option, but if you only have the option of canned, go with the varieties in pear juice instead of heavy syrup! Also make your fruit choice organic if you are going to eat the skin, pesticides and harmful chemical residues are sometimes difficult to completely remove from fruit even with washing. When it comes to vegetables, try to get around 6 servings of these everyday and mix it up, eat all the colors available, the richer and deeper the color more flavonoids to offer. Treat vegetables as a main course in meals, and make everything else a smaller side dish. As I mentioned with the fruit, get fresh vegetables, if you are eating the outside of the vegetable, get organic to avoid those harmful chemical residues!
Dairy, dairy, dairy. This is a funny one, and a lot of people need to listen up on this one. Stay away from dairy, yes I said stay AWAY from DAIRY. Do you honestly think that you should eat or drink something that was meant to nourish an animal that is 4 times our size? Take a second and really ponder that. Anyway, most people lose lactase in their body as they age - naturally, and lactase breaks down lactose. Basically we were provided with a temporary enzyme to break down lactose during the period of time that we would need to nurse from our own mothers. After that - our bodies are designed to not need it, so we lose that ability to break down lactose as we age, and this happens at different times and rates depending on your genetic make-up - but it does happen. And as it does, the side effects of bloating, gas, cramping and nausea just get worse. So why would you eat something that your body does not efficiently process, makes you bloated and miserable, and in then stores as fat?! Dairy is the muffin top, cottage cheese effect, spare tire, super gas maker! Fun. So now you, or someone you know, want to argue about not getting enough calcium or vitamin D to keep bones strong and body healthy without feasting on dairy. And what about all of those commercials, paid for by the dairy association mind you, that tell you eating dairy helps you lose weight? The dairy industry and the meat-packing industry, are some of the largest money-scheming, mass-producing industries in the United States of America. Check out a book or two revealing some of the nasty truths about mass production of food and be prepared to vomit. Heck, you might not eat for days after you read a few chapters on the quality issues that have been found and the ways in which they are corrected. Profiting members of these organizations are woven very tight and numerously throughout our countries government and political personnel. Here's a shocker; there are other foods available that offer a more readily available and easier to digest source of calcium, and vitamin D. Vegetables, fruit, grains, legumes, seeds, nuts. And if you think you aren't getting enough from your diet, guess what, buy a vitamin and take it daily. And no matter how you get your vitamin D, make sure you get 15 minutes of sun daily! I think that you should eat eggs, especially organic brown eggs because they have really good nutrients that your body needs, free-roaming chickens tend to get more green food, and in turn their eggs tend to offer more Omega-3 fatty acids. As a matter of fact, eggs are incredible because they do provide a broad spectrum of necessary vitamins and nutrients. Oh and why not have a little bit of yogurt...Soy yogurt! Still has the "bifitoilet" (lol) bacteria in it for you to stay regular and smelly. Make sure you are not eating a lot of ice cream and milk, these dairy products are the toughest on your body because aside from the naturally occurring lactose present, manufacturers actually add more lactose into them as a sweetener
Now let's talk about eating; fuel for your body - what you put in your mouth in the way of food; meat, grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, essentials oils and fats. I am going to start by identifying the types of meat which when eaten sparingly to moderately are acceptable, and also that which should be avoided entirely. My recommendation is that a person should consume, in moderation - preferably sparingly; white lean options such as poultry and seafood (fish, shellfish). Stay away from all red meat and fatty salty pork (especially bacon and sausage). Meat in all forms is hard on our digestive systems, often causing irregularity and bloating. Think about what meat is; rotting flesh, flesh that has been built to endure - so it is naturally tough and difficult to break down. Other animals like tigers and lions and wolves were equipped with the right digestive tools to survive on a diet of raw flesh. We weren't. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice filet or New York strip once or twice a year, but I honestly keep it to an absolute minimum - and man do I feel it for days afterwards as my stomach gurgles and bubbles like a sputtering geyser. I know everyone talks about eating whatever you want in moderation, but when you think about that statement, it's just an excuse for the weak of will - and it sounds convincing. Think about it, everything in moderation; OK, how about you go right ahead and eat worms, dung, tree bark, dirt, and drink some motor oil while you're at it. It won't kill you the first time, and maybe someone can promote eating these things to make it sound like it is good for you. The bottom line, use your head and listen to your body; if what you eat causes constant bloating, stomach pain, irregularity, weight gain, cramps, foul excretion and so on and so forth, do you think you should continue to eat it on a regular daily or weekly basis? A great substitution for consuming protein is beans; black beans, pinto beans, lima beans...Oh, and what about iron? I hear this one all the time; someone is craving meat so they think that means that their body needs iron. Wrong, cravings usually never have anything at all to do with what you need, but everything to do with what you want. Iron is readily available in much easier to digest sources of food such as dark green leafy vegetables, yams, sweet potatoes, seeds, and some fruits. These sources of iron are classified as non-Heme sources. This means that in order to equate to the type of iron derived from eating meat, it needs to be paired with vitamin C. How convenient, most of these vegetarian sources of iron are also laden with vitamin C, and almost everything you drink and eat today is fortified with vitamin C, so that shouldn't be a problem.
As far as grains go, it depends on what your goal is. If you want to lose weight, then you should stick with 2 or less servings of grains. If you are not concerned with losing weight then 2 to 4 servings per day is fine. Stick to 100% whole grains, and stay away from enriched refined grains. Eat the grainiest stuff you can find and your body will love you more, the more you have to crunch and chew the better. Fruit, fruit, the magical fruit, eat a lot of it! 4 to 6 servings a day no matter who you are, make sure it is fresh fruit and not canned, frozen is your next best option, but if you only have the option of canned, go with the varieties in pear juice instead of heavy syrup! Also make your fruit choice organic if you are going to eat the skin, pesticides and harmful chemical residues are sometimes difficult to completely remove from fruit even with washing. When it comes to vegetables, try to get around 6 servings of these everyday and mix it up, eat all the colors available, the richer and deeper the color more flavonoids to offer. Treat vegetables as a main course in meals, and make everything else a smaller side dish. As I mentioned with the fruit, get fresh vegetables, if you are eating the outside of the vegetable, get organic to avoid those harmful chemical residues!
Dairy, dairy, dairy. This is a funny one, and a lot of people need to listen up on this one. Stay away from dairy, yes I said stay AWAY from DAIRY. Do you honestly think that you should eat or drink something that was meant to nourish an animal that is 4 times our size? Take a second and really ponder that. Anyway, most people lose lactase in their body as they age - naturally, and lactase breaks down lactose. Basically we were provided with a temporary enzyme to break down lactose during the period of time that we would need to nurse from our own mothers. After that - our bodies are designed to not need it, so we lose that ability to break down lactose as we age, and this happens at different times and rates depending on your genetic make-up - but it does happen. And as it does, the side effects of bloating, gas, cramping and nausea just get worse. So why would you eat something that your body does not efficiently process, makes you bloated and miserable, and in then stores as fat?! Dairy is the muffin top, cottage cheese effect, spare tire, super gas maker! Fun. So now you, or someone you know, want to argue about not getting enough calcium or vitamin D to keep bones strong and body healthy without feasting on dairy. And what about all of those commercials, paid for by the dairy association mind you, that tell you eating dairy helps you lose weight? The dairy industry and the meat-packing industry, are some of the largest money-scheming, mass-producing industries in the United States of America. Check out a book or two revealing some of the nasty truths about mass production of food and be prepared to vomit. Heck, you might not eat for days after you read a few chapters on the quality issues that have been found and the ways in which they are corrected. Profiting members of these organizations are woven very tight and numerously throughout our countries government and political personnel. Here's a shocker; there are other foods available that offer a more readily available and easier to digest source of calcium, and vitamin D. Vegetables, fruit, grains, legumes, seeds, nuts. And if you think you aren't getting enough from your diet, guess what, buy a vitamin and take it daily. And no matter how you get your vitamin D, make sure you get 15 minutes of sun daily! I think that you should eat eggs, especially organic brown eggs because they have really good nutrients that your body needs, free-roaming chickens tend to get more green food, and in turn their eggs tend to offer more Omega-3 fatty acids. As a matter of fact, eggs are incredible because they do provide a broad spectrum of necessary vitamins and nutrients. Oh and why not have a little bit of yogurt...Soy yogurt! Still has the "bifitoilet" (lol) bacteria in it for you to stay regular and smelly. Make sure you are not eating a lot of ice cream and milk, these dairy products are the toughest on your body because aside from the naturally occurring lactose present, manufacturers actually add more lactose into them as a sweetener
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