Managing sickle cell pain

Learn about the iCanCope with sickle cell pain program, different ways to manage your sickle cell pain and learn about SMART goals and how to set them for yourself.

Learn about stress and how it affects the body. Also find out how bad feelings can make you feel more stressed and learn how to identify negative thoughts that may contribute to stress.

Learn why relaxation helps you manage sickle cell pain and how to use four relaxation methods: deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation with tension, relaxation with imagery and mini-relaxation.

Learn how sleep affects pain, how to develop healthy sleep habits and how to deal with problems falling asleep or staying asleep.

Find out how to become a better communicator, including how to talk to your health-care team and be more involved in making decisions and how to talk to your school about sickle cell disease.

A healthy lifestyle is important for people with sickle cell disease as it can protect your body against stress and pain flares. Over the following pages, you will learn about hydration, physical activity, how to build activity into your day through graded activity and how to make time for enjoyable activities to help you cope with sickle cell disease.

Learn to think differently about your sleep and discover some approaches that help with insomnia.

Learn about negative emotions, their impact on pain and how to identify them. Also find out how to schedule enjoyable activities to boost your mood and how to find the positives in your life to increase your positive emotions and reduce your pain.