Help me manage my sickle cell pain

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease when I was about 18 months old. Since then I have experienced very difficult symptoms and diagnoses including avascular necrosis, iron overload and pulmonary embolism. The changes in my body caused by sickle cell disease have also greatly affected my mobility and social life.

Experiencing a crisis is terrible. The pain is excruciating. It’s as if someone with knives in their hands and spikes in their toes jumps, stabs and stamps at their own pace in a selected part of my body. The knives feel like they are digging deep into the epicenter of my bones and stabbing me…