How CDC cuts affect women with chronic diseases like sickle cell

The team responsible for updating the CDC’s “contraception bible,” which advises doctors on birth control safety, was disbanded by the Trump administration.

WESTLAND, Mich. — For D’Asia Jackson, every day is a guessing game over whether excruciating pain will upend her life.

The 28-year-old medical assistant was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited condition that causes red blood cells to be shaped like a crescent moon. The anomaly can cause blood clots, organ damage and excruciating pain, which can worsen during the menstrual cycle.

“Pain-wise, I always describe it as like being hit by a Mack truck,” Jackson said. “When I know my period is coming, I know pain is probably right behind it.”

Over the last 10 years, Jackson has worked with her doctors to try a variety of contraception options to get her symptoms under control, from the Depo-Provera shot, a hormone injection given every three months, to an IUD to different forms of birth control pills.

According to Jackson, none of them helped. Some made her periods even worse.