How Smoking and Drinking Affect Patients with Sickle Cell Disease

This article discusses the effects of smoking and drinking on patients with sickle cell disease. It explains how tobacco and alcohol can worsen the symptoms of sickle cell anemia, including lung problems, leg ulcers, and pain crises. The article also highlights the increased risk of cancer associated with smoking and marijuana use.

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Analysis
Sickle cell disease refers to the group of disorders which affects the hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is
the molecule of the red blood cells which is responsible for delivering oxygen to the rest of the
body parts. The people suffering from sickle cell disease have atypical hemoglobin molecule in
which the hemoglobin molecules takes the form of sickle or crescent shape. People suffering
from sickle cell disease are affected by increased smoking and drinking alcohol. The concept of
how smoking affects patients suffering from sickle cell anemia are discussed here. Intake of
tobacco reduces the flow of oxygen into the lungs (Sadreameli et al., 2016). This not only affects
the tissues of the lungs but also affects the tissues throughout the body. Infection of lung occurs
which may even lead to permanent damage of lung like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
and emphysema. Lung problems are common to the people suffering from sickle anemia. When
a person smokes, the chances of acquiring acute chronic syndrome including problems in
breathing and fever increase. The chances of pneumonia and pulmonary hypertension also gets
increased. The patient also develops the chances of strokes or other life threatening diseases.
Excessive smoking causes the blood vessels to decrease in size (Sadreameli et al., 2016). This
will lead to the crisis of pain. The nicotine of the tobacco gets attached to the hemoglobin which
in turn decreases the concentration of oxygen in the blood stream. This trigger the episode of
pain in the patient. The patients of the sickle cell anemia, excessive smoking increases the
chances of developing leg ulcer. Smoking increase the chance of lung cancer along with cancer
of throats, bladder, esophagus, kidney and pancreas. Smoking marijuana also increases the
chances of cancer more that smoking tobacco. Marijuana smoke consists of 50 to 70% more
chemicals which may cause cancer more than tobacco smoke. Street names of marijuana are pot,
grass, weed, bud, hydro and dope. The marijuana smoke increases the heart rate, causes drying of

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mouth, and increases appetite. It also cause coughing, bronchitis as well as increase the risk of
cancer in neck and lungs (Vincent et al., 2016). All effects of marijuana may severely affect the
patients suffering from sickle cell disease. Alcohol acts as a depressant, which means it decreases
the function of brain. Excessive drinking causes a person to urinate much more than normal.
Excessive loss of fluids from the body trigger a crisis of pain in the body (Finan et al., 2018).
The peoples suffering from sickle cell anemia need to drink almost 8 glasses of water per day to
maintain the hydration of the body. When a person suffering from sickle cell disease becomes
dehydrated, the red blood cells gets stick together which lead to the blocking of the blood
vessels. The inflammation of the affected tissues causes pain.

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References
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A., ... & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2018). Daily opioid use fluctuates as a function of pain,
catastrophizing, and affect in patients with sickle cell disease: an electronic daily diary
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Sadreameli, S. C., Eakin, M. N., Robinson, K. T., Alade, R. O., & Strouse, J. J. (2016).
Secondhand smoke is associated with more frequent hospitalizations in children with
sickle cell disease. American journal of hematology, 91(3), 313-317.
Sadreameli, S., Kopp, B., Creary, S., Eakin, M., McGrath-Morrow, S., & Strouse, J. (2016).
Secondhand smoke is an important modifiable risk factor in sickle cell disease: a review
of the current literature and areas for future research. International journal of
environmental research and public health, 13(11), 1131.
Vincent, L., Vang, D., Nguyen, J., Benson, B., Lei, J., & Gupta, K. (2016). Cannabinoid
receptor-specific mechanisms to alleviate pain in sickle cell anemia via inhibition of mast
cell activation and neurogenic inflammation. Haematologica, 101(5), 566-577.