Many people suffer from iron deficiency anemia, which is the most common type of anemia. This occurs when your body doesn’t have enough mineral iron, but there is such a thing as having iron overload. Hemochromatosis happens when you have too much iron in your body. Many times you can tell you have iron overload because it gives your skin a bronze color, which is not always from your suntan.
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This happens when your body absorbs too much iron from the food and drinks you consume. The excess iron is stored in many vital organs, such as the liver, heart and pancreas, which can create life-threatening conditions like cancer and heart disease. The pancreas for example could become damaged and you can develop diabetes.
What are the Risk Factors?
You can inherit an iron overload disorder if it’s in your genes. If a person inherits one copy of the mutated HFE gene from each parent, then your chances are higher. Men are also more likely to develop hemochromatosis than women because women lose iron during their menstruation and during pregnancy. People that eat a lot of processed foods or red meat are also at a higher risk. Many times the excess iron in your body could lead to the development these diseases:
- Cirrhosis of the liver
- Liver cancer
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Bacterial and viral infections
What Is the Treatment for Hemochromatosis?
One of the easiest ways to know what your iron levels are is to donate blood. When you donate blood they test your iron levels and you immediately know on the spot. Of course you can also visit your doctor and ask him or her to run some tests, but donating blood is easier and better because you could potentially be saving a life with the blood you donate. When you are diagnosed with hemochromatosis, the goal is to bring your iron levels down in order to prevent any organ damage or any complications of the disease. Treatment for hemochromatosis include:
- Therapeutic phlebotomy: This is a procedure that removes blood and iron from your body. A needle is inserted into your vein; similar to what you would do when you donate blood. Your doctor will determine your treatment, but normally they start by removing 1 pint of blood every week once or twice until your iron levels go back to normal.
- Iron chelation therapy: This therapy gives the patient prescription drugs to remove the excess iron from your body. This is the alternative treatment for those who can’t get therapeutic phlebotomy. It’s either injected to taken orally and it can be done at home.
- Dietary changes: Your doctor can suggest ways of removing iron from your daily diet. Things like limiting your intake of vitamin C, which helps your body absorb iron from food is something he would suggest. Also, avoiding sushi or other forms of uncooked fish would be another recommendation because some fish contain bacteria that can cause infections in people who have chronic diseases. Alcohol increases the risk of liver disease, which can be a result of hemochromatosis and drinking alcohol can make liver disease worse.