My Crisis Triggers

Paying attention to my triggers was something I wasn’t good at when I was a child. My mum wouldn't let me go and play in the rain, but I didn’t really know why. I remember getting upset every time she gives others cold drinks, but would give me one at room temperature.

Understanding our triggers

My triggers have changed a lot over time. There was a time eating fermented food (banku) would trigger a crises. I eat it almost everyday now and it doesn’t trigger a thing.

To really know your triggers, you need to really pay extra attention to yourself. Every little detail is important. Time, place, moment, reason, duration, intensity, etc. It is so much work.

Trying new things

Sometimes I try to beat my body at it's own game. This is where I intentionally do something I'm not supposed to do just to see how my body will react. Very risky, but very effective for me. Over time, my body gets used to the activity and stops to react to the activity or gets easier. Be careful not to get carried away or overdo things, remember you are different from others.

A few of my triggers

Strangely, dust trigger my crises. I find this really strange because I’ve not yet met another person who says the same. Anytime I am near dust, the aftermath is troubling breathing and the next I’m in a pain crisis.

Stress has been found as a common trigger for crises. For this reason, I avoid anything and anyone that causes me stress. Yes! Even people you love so much cause you enough stress to get you sick. They have to go too.

But sickle cell is more than triggers and crises...

I can go on and on about triggers. My point is, because of the intensity of codes and complications that come with sickle cell, other effects are completely ignored or sidelined. The frustrating part is, mental health, is an essential need of everyone but no one is talking about that.

The need to check out for triggers and being cautious puts so much pressure on our mental health, throwing us mostly to the edge of depression which funnily enough is another trigger.

Trigger conscious or not,  pain sometimes just shows up and we do not know what exactly caused it . These mostly lasts longer than those triggered by known triggers because you usually do not know how to manage yourself in such instances.

Knowing one’s triggers help with managing the pain and stopping it from getting worse.

Emotional triggers

Emotional triggers are the worst of all. Keeping everything under wraps finds a way of ruining important celebrations or leaves a mark on others that you might not care. But extreme excitement or sadness can cause pain and having to explain is another task.

The passing of friends

The stinker of the notion that warriors have a limited life especially in Africa where another branch of unnecessary mental turmoil in all warriors as we begin to picture death when warriors we know die. I had a series of crises without any triggers when such news got to me. Asking myself if I was next. It is a long and lonely path.

I do my best not to dwell so much on triggers and live a life that makes me content. Meditation, listening to music, and writing have always helped in ways unimaginable.

Our triggers do not define us

Our lives as warriors exist so much in a little cage, but we have to take a few times risks to do something productive whiles finding pleasure in it. Triggers do not define us. It’s only a pathway to finding ourselves and taking bolder decisions in our way of life.

Again, society needs to understand that while there are core triggers like changes in weather, stress, malaria, etc. there are other triggers like altitude change, dust, and carrying heavy objects. The truth is the human mind with all its power cannot adjust to these frequent changes or get used to these restrictions and regulations no matter how long you have lived with this condition.

We can't always avoid them

For example when I lost my mum, I was told not to cry because it would trigger a crises, but what was I supposed to do with the sadness I felt than to cry.

Don’t forget, triggers differ from warrior to warrior and no two warriors are the same even when they are twins.