VOPAM

The VOPAM App is like having an online diary in your pocket! It is designed to track your menstrual periods and sickle cell pain.

The VOPAM app is specifically designed to help:
- Patients log when they're starting and ending their menstrual period
- Record if you are experiencing sickle cell pain, chronic pain, or other types of pain
- See how your quality of life is around the time of your menstrual periods

To use VOPAM, email deva.sharma@vanderbilt.edu or melissa.e.day@vanderbilt.edu for details of how to participate and receive unique log in information.

We want to assess how common it is for women to experience vaso-occlusive pain or “sickle cell pain” during their menstrual period. Previous studies have indicated that many women experience vaso-occlusive pain during the first few days or the week following their period. We know that your sickle cell pain is the most common concern that leads to clinic and emergency visits, as well as inpatient hospitalizations for pain control. Increased vaso-occlusive pain episodes predicts increased risk of death from sickle cell disease and our goal is to identify the subset of women with sickle cell disease who are more prone to vaso-occlusive pain from their period. This will enable us to identify therapeutic interventions to decrease vaso-occlusive pain associated with menstrual periods.