My daughter was diagnosed with sickle cell disease so I am not only a physician, but a mother and also an advocate to help make everyone aware of this common chronic medical condition.
However, my goal was to not only be an advocate for my daughter, but to also help prevent her from having repeated hospitalizations due to pain crisis, improve her health while keeping her healthy in the process so that she can grow and thrive the best way she can. I began to search natural and holistic therapies to keep her healthy. Being trained as an osteopathic physician allowed me to look at the whole-body approach to healing when treating patients.
However, after my daughter’s diagnosis I wanted to further educate myself to become the Holistic Integrative Pediatrician I am today. It is with these skills I not only help my daughter, but also help to empower and give knowledge to other moms of children with chronic diseases so that their children can live their best lives yet.
What is sickle cell disease?
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder which causes the red blood cells to become abnormally shaped in appearance and get stuck inside of blood vessels, which makes it hard to deliver oxygen to tissues within the body. This lack of oxygen then causes congestion known as “sludging” in the blood vessels, leading to severe pain to individuals affected by this chronic condition.
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Complications from the lack of oxygen and congestion of red blood cells in the body then leads to increased breakdown of the red blood cells leading to a chronic anemia. Many of these patients are then left with endless blood transfusions to prevent organ damage and stroke. Because of the abnormal red blood cells and anemia many of these patients have what we call “functional asplenia.” This means that their spleen does not function normally like individuals without the disease.
The spleen is important for immune system support because it helps to filter blood. Unfortunately, this makes many individuals with sickle cell disease susceptible to infections that individuals with healthy immune systems can fight off. These infections can become serious to an individual with sickle cell disease and can often lead to severe infection in the blood stream and at times death.
Here are four important things to know about sickle cell disease:
1. Sickle cell disease is the most common genetic disorder in the United States. Per the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 Americans. About 1 in 13 Black babies are born with the sickle cell trait. One in 365 Black babies have the disease and 1 in 1600 hispanic babies carry the disease. Sickle cell disease is also more common across parts of Africa, yet due to lack of medical care many individuals are unaware and not able to get the necessary treatment.
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2. People inherit sickle cell disease. Individuals are born with it and it cannot develop in adulthood nor is it contagious. Sickle Cell disease is passed down from both parents and each parent has to carry the sickle cell trait. There is a 25 percent chance that their child will have sickle cell disease for every pregnancy each time they want to conceive. That is a 1 in 4 chance that the child will develop the disease. The United States has as many as two million people who carry this trait. Many are not aware that they carry the trait until it becomes time to conceive which is why it is so important to educate everyone about this important medical condition.
3. Sickle cell disease is not a death sentence and is treatable only by a bone marrow transplant. However, sickle cell disease is a chronic medical condition, but due to increasing medical research and technology many patients can live productive lives. Many patients are now living well into their 40’s and 50’s. However, twenty years ago many children with sickle cell disease rarely made it to adulthood.
4. Sickle cell disease affects more than just Blacks. Sickle cell disease is often thought of as a condition of Blacks, and it is important to note that researchers estimate approximately 60 to 80 percent of those with SCD are of African-American descent. However, other races are also affected. People of Hispanic, Indian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean heritage are also commonly affected by sickle cell disease.
Dr. Tamika Bush AKA (Dr. TamikaPeds) is a board-certified pediatrician, best-selling Author, Speaker, Media Consultant and Doctor Mom who specializes in children's health. Through her videos, courses and books she prides herself on helping to keep your children healthy and happy all naturally without the use of conventional medicine.
Dr. Bush has an upcoming book on children’s health scheduled to be released End of October 2017. In this book Dr. Bush tells her own personal story along with Natural and Holistic remedies to many common childhood conditions. Dr. Bush is across all social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @drtamikapeds. She can also be contacted via her website at www.drtamikapeds.com and she also has a special Facebook group for mothers in which she gives natural tips to keep children healthy at www.granolamoms.info
