When to Seek Medical Care

If certain conditions develop in a person with sickle cell disease, the person must contact a physician. If the physician is not quickly available or cannot see the person right away, the person with sickle cell disease may choose to go to a hospital's emergency department. Contact the physician in the following cases:

• Many people with sickle-cell disease have pain with enough frequency that they need to take pain medications at home. If the pain is unrelieved by the medication, or the pain is significantly different from previous episodes, contact the health care provider.
  
  
• If experiencing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; losing a lot of fluid; and having inability to drink and keep it down, the person with sickle cell disease is in danger of becoming dehydrated. This is a serious concern with sickle cell disease. The physician or the hospital may provide IV fluids to replace the lost fluids.
  
  
• It is important to control infection. If it appears that a person with sickle cell disease is getting an infection, even if using antibiotics to prevent infection, contact the physician immediately.

A sickle cell crisis can often be managed efficiently and quickly in a hospital's emergency department with fluids and pain medicines. A person with sickle cell disease should not delay going to the hospital. Delay can only make the condition worse and might require hospitalization for treatment.

Go to a hospital's emergency department if these conditions develop:

• Uncontrollable pain even with the use of narcotics
  
  
• Continued loss of fluid leading to dehydration (if vomiting)
  
  
• Uncontrollable fever
  
  
• Chest pain or shortness of breath
  
  
• Severe abdominal pain

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