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Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> She now knows more about how to control pain. Her mother has played a pivotal role in helping her to keep active and not to dwell on her pain in times

Mica has lived with sickle cell anemia since birth. Her Mum and her brother also have the condition. Her mother has played an important role in helping Mica and her brother to develop a positive attittude towards having sickle cell anaemia. Mica says that she now feels in control of her condition.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Helene - Interview 04 >> Sometimes she doesn't tell employers that she has sickle cell as she's found that they don't really understand what it means.

Helene has had sickle cell anemia since birth. Sickle cell is when the blood cells are shaped like a half moon and they cannot pass through the veins so easily and this causes pain in, for example, elbows and knees. Helene takes penicillin and folic acid everyday and needs to avoid getting cold.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Helene - Interview 04 >> Sometimes she feels depressed about her sickle cell disease when she is ill and in pain.

Long term health conditions >> Men 19-23 >> William - Interview 22 >> His friends treat him the same and some know what to do if he were to have a crisis. He does not talk about his condition in college because thinks ev

William has lived with sickle cell anemia since birth. His mother and father have both got the sickle cell trait but his sister is not affected. When he was a child he remembers that he was in hospital many times. His condition is much improved now that he is older. He takes penicillin and folic acid everyday and says that he does not need to take medication but he does it because his aim is to prevent crisis.

Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> She drank a lot of vodka which triggered a sickle cell crisis. She still remembers the pain and says that after that she can't stand alcohol.

Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> Friends saw her having a crisis but didn't know about her sickle cell. She explained it to them and they are very supportive. No one has ever been unk

Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> Says that she has wised up and advises other young people to understand that if they smoke or drink alcohol they will get more sickle cell crises than

Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> She and her younger brother have sickle cell but not her sister though she says that her sister knows a lot about the condition and copes well if they

Publication date: October 2007 Last updated: February 2012

Review date: February 2014

Various long-term health conditions can occur in young people. We interviewed 30 young people about their experiences of different chronic illnesses. Select from the key topics below, choose from the full list of topics on the right hand side of this page, or explore all the interviews by clicking on people's stories below.

Sophie says: “I've had a good weekend despite my lungs not feeling too good. My boyfriend's training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro so we have been hiking!”
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