I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.
These are words spoken by Edgar Allan Poe.

On the issue of drugs that the sickle cell person does take, I am very careful as to what I say because I am not a medical person. I am a person with the condition and who having learned a lot on the condition deem it befitting to society to educate the public through mediums like this, through speaking to groups and on platforms and through other avenues available and accessible. So before I wrote this, I consulted with my doctor and made certain clarifications. I also think folic acid might be the last article I write on the issue of drugs that the sickle cell person takes. It is a known fact that most (though not all) sickle cell persons takes a doctor-prescribed-daily-dosage of folic acid. The particular dosage gets determined by the physician.

With these explanations, let us examine what the drug folic acid is and what it does for the sickle cell person.

Folic acid is a drug mostly administered to persons with the sickle cell disease. It has immense importance in helping the weak hemoglobin or red blood cells of the person with the disease. Many persons with the sickle cell disease find respite from infection (though this is achieved with other antibacterial), pain crises (though this is achieved with other painkillers, like NSAID’s) and other vulnerabilities from taking, sometimes temporary or permanent, of the physician administered quantity of the folic acid drug.

Folic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin. Since the 1998, it has been added to cold cereals, flour, breads, pasta, bakery items, cookie, and crackers, as required by different laws in different countries. Foods that are naturally high in folic acid include leafy vegetables (such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce); okra, asparagus, fruits (such as bananas, melons, and lemons), beans, mushrooms, yeast, meat (such as beef liver and kidney), orange juice, and tomato juice

Folic acid is also used in preventing and treating low blood levels of folic acid called folic acid deficiency. Folic acid works in sickle cell disease patients by aiding the rather vulnerable red blood cells to stand well the various working mechanisms of the body. In non-sickle cell people, red blood cells are supposed to break down, after being produced in the bone marrow, after one hundred and twenty (120) days. After they break down, the body’ s working mechanisms issue and initiate processes towards the production of another red blood cells which is also expected to last, whiles executing its assigned functions in the body, within the spate of one hundred and twenty (120) days. And this is the cycle that the human body is naturally configured to follow. However, and rather unfortunately, in the case of sickle cell people, these red blood cells, which are supposed to last about one hundred and twenty (120) days, break down close to twelve (12) and fifth-teen (15) days. And when they break down, the human body, because it has been configured and given instructions from the dawn of nature to only give and initiate procedures for the manufacture of a new red blood cells only after one hundred and twenty (102) days, the body fails to issue any of such orders because it cannot flout such a primal responsibility. It cannot compromise, even when it envisages that such an act will inure to the body’s benefit. During these close to ninety (90) days where the body of the sickle cell person is left with virtually no significant vestiges of its precious hemoglobin, the sickle cell person tires easily, can easily get crisis, can easily go unconscious, can easily suffer loss of breath and several other fatalities that do characterize a bodily function highly deficient in hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the several important sectors of the body.

And folic acid gets to accomplish this: aid the rather ailing red blood cells to rather live longer, hopefully beyond their usual lifespan, so that when they finally break down, the body will not get to realize, crystal clear, their absence and in essence hopefully ameliorate the disturbances and complications that such absence could engender.

This does not also presupposes that the sickle cell person should cram up activities within the days that he or she thinks that his or her hemoglobin level is peaked and go redundant in the subsequent days that he or she thinks that his or her hemoglobin level has snowballed. Rather, the sickle cell person should engage in all activities with a tint of caution and respect for his or her own body and should always give careful, attentive and detailed introspection to his or her body. In very extreme cases where the sickle cell person feels, in unusual ways, tiredness that he or she feels not normal, he or she should not hesitate to visit a health facility for his or her Hemoglobin (Hb) level checked. These health facilities most often know the level of Hb that is appropriate for the sickle cell person with respect to whether the person is a male or female, as the Hb of females are relatively lower than the males because of the female’s monthly blood ritual. The sickle cell person should, however, not be unnecessarily obsessed with this level of hemoglobin to the extent that certain aspects of his or her daily life gets negatively impacted because of this fear that exuberance in daily activities could accelerate the depletion of the rather limited stock of hemoglobin. Though excessive activities could cause this, it should not be reason why one will completely fail to partake in the activities of daily living.

Live your life. But with care and witty decisions and actions. We are all vulnerable in our world, both the sickle cell person and the non-sickle cell person. But this vulnerability does not also restrain us from venturing into the corridors of reality and daily living. Vincent van Gogh said it better with this situation when he wisely quipped: that the fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

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Contact Number (+233) 0243528250

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