The cold season (i.e. the harmattan) is one of the seasons that pose great challenges to people living with sickle cell disease.
This is due to a couple of reasons: one being the cold temperature during the period which can easily predispose the person with the condition to a pain crisis (because extreme coldness or extreme heat destabilizes the body equilibrium);
Again, the inability of persons with the condition to take in a lot of fluids due to the very decreased systemic desire in any fluid intake (there is a vivid scientific explanation for this), leading to possible incidences of dehydration, which can culminate in a pain crisis;
And finally the heightened possibility of exposure to infections because of the high dryness/aridity of the environment, that can cause infections ranging from respiratory tract infections to other forms of infections characteristic of dryness in the atmosphere.
And infections in general, are catastrophic for the sickle cell person as it compromises a rather fragile immune system.
So during this period (with the severe instances of the harmattan being forecasted), it requires that careful attention is exuded on the part of people living with the condition, on the part of people with loved ones with the condition and on the part of caregivers (i.e. parents, medical staffs or other surrogate caregivers whose duty or who are entrusted with the care of persons with the condition).
Rendering care and support during this critically cold season (and which the Meteorological Service of Ghana has announced that the coldness of the season might get severe, as I have already mentioned), requires two approaches: one on the part of parents and caregivers taking custody of children and secondly on the part of individuals, themselves, having the condition.
On the part of Parents and Caregivers taking Custody of Children
Children are fragile and vulnerable when it comes to their protection and care from adverse weather condition or conditions that put them in a much compromised position. These vulnerabilities requires the effort of parents so as to counter any negative impact that can occur when they are not protected. Under-listed are simple but very effective coping strategies for parents or caregivers who have custody of children with the condition.
- Children of school-going age should have extra trousers and shirts covering the most part of their body, in schools where wearing of trousers are not allowed, permission should be sought for the particular child,
- The child going to school should be entrusted to the care of any trustworthy (and emphasis on the word again) teacher to take particular care in the child so as to prevent her or him from engaging in certain activities that can precipitate a painful crisis,
- Warm bath should be given to the child during the whole season and beyond, in an enclosed area and not an open place as the cold-infection (what I will call it) can even attack the child even under a warm bath but in an exposed and very cold environment,
- Children should not be allowed to play in water, whether warm or cold as such degrees of temperature are not necessary before a pain attack,
- Children should be given water bottles and frequently be fuelled with water so that they can take quick and small quantities of water to counter the effects of dehydration (which is a very dangerous symptom that can start a pain crisis), the whole attitude of drinking water should be inculcated in children,
- Foods taken or fed to children should be carefully monitored as these foods sometimes reveals their side effects on the child so that quick and prudent action can be taken,
- Working mothers and fathers of middle income should do well to lower, or better still, switch off AC’s in their homes, cars, or offices where these children do stay for a significant amount of time and in schools where classrooms are fitted with AC’s, and these schools might not be willing to compromise for the sake of the child, extra clothing should be gowned the child (and even hand gloves),
- Children sleeping under fans should also be minimized, to a great extent,
- During weekends where children have enough time with their parents, care should be taken to reduce roaming around the house or the neighborhood, for in these journeys burst seeds of unhealthy engagements that can affect the child,
On the part of Individuals having the condition
Adults with the condition, are sometimes, very difficult in terms of adhering to advices on better ways to take care of their bodies. This is due to their over inflated sense of ego that such acts and actions might sometimes make them stand out as the odd ones in a group of which they are passionately entangled with and which they are unwilling to leave or innocuously hurt.
But taking care of yourself, and doing that better, cannot be compromised upon in anyway. If you think that telling a group or your close friends to adapt to your threshold or telling them to adopt a certain precaution which will favor your health, and ultimately theirs, is embarrassing, then wait until you join them to that pool bath and get carried to an Emergency Ward with that torturous pain, with all onlookers wide-eyed, and your group very shocked, whiles you wallow in abject pain.
So if you know what is good for yourself, you better start taking good care of yourself, and especially this cold season. And here are a few suggestions that you can use in doing that.
- If you are in a senior High School (a boarder in this regard), and the school prohibits the use of water heaters, contact a housemaster or housemistress and explain your condition so they can get you a warm water to take your bath every morning; and do not be shy of friends asking you why you are taking a warm bath every morning, just tell them you feel the need to, you don’t owe them any explanation, not everyone has to know of your condition,
- If you are a student in second cycle institutions, seek permission to wear trousers if you are not wearing one and for the ladies, wear uniforms that have gone below the knee region (for pain attacks from the joints and the knees happen to be a frequent victim), and don’t be climbing your school staircases just anyhow, let your actions be listed so that when you descend or ascend, you know exactly what you are going to do, and I will advise that student leaders should, during these times, delegated a major chunk of their responsibilities to their assistants,
- If you work in environments where your office is above two-to-three storey, take a lot of water, have enough ventilation in the room and use the elevators, too much walking is dangerous as it gets to weaken the joints)
- If you work in an Air Conditioned environment, let your office be regulated to the minimum cold temperature and if you share desks with several people who might not be willing to allow that you lower the AC, then you have to put on extra clothing and it should be done nicely, so no one walks into an office to see a puffy-feathered employee attracting unnecessary attention,
- If following your friends out for a weekend stay can culminate in overt body exposures that can cause you untold pains for several weeks, it will be sensible and very moral on your part to decline such an offer and explain to your partner why going with the group could jeopardize your health,
- If you are the exercise-loving one and go out to gyms often in pursuance of well regulated exercise, please avoid it during this season because the atmosphere will cause unnecessary perspiration and subsequent dehydration in your body and if no adequate hydration is taken to counter the losing fluids, you might be heading for the emergency ward when the pain arrives,
- And just be careful and very attentive to detail
Sorry my language might sound harsh but it’s because you are an adult and I am sure you know the consequences of not taking good care of yourself, especially in this season.
Source-myjoyonline.com
