ECU Health Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program – For Patients & Families
When to seek advice from a healthcare provider?
- Pain
- Fever above 101 deg F
- Difficulty Breathing
- Chest Pain
- Abdominal Swelling/Pain
- Severe Headache
- Sudden weakness or loss of feeling and movement
- Seizure
- Vision Changes
- Constipation
Fever
Fever is a normal response of the body to infection. Fever is usually due to a minor infection, but it can be the first symptom of a very serious infection. When fever first begins, it is impossible to tell how serious the infection is. The child with sickle cell disease is more susceptible to serious infections, such as septicemia (infection of the blood). Septicemia can kill a child with sickle cell disease. If the child does have septicemia, early treatment must be given to save his or her life.
Fever can be the first sign of septicemia, so you must always know what to do when your child has a fever.
- Take the temperature with a thermometer. It is impossible to know a child has a fever by feeling the skin. DO NOT give medicine for the fever before checking the temperature with a thermometer.
- If the temperature is above 101 degrees F, contact your doctor immediately.
- Talk to your doctor BEFORE you go to the emergency room.
Fever medicine make a child feel better and reduces fluid losses from the body, but it does not treat the cause of the fever. You must always contact your doctor for any fever in your child.
Additional Resources
Looking for information to help care for a child, teen, or adult with Sickle Cell Disease?