I Am Iron Man ...er Woman
I found out last week that I have hereditary hemachromatosis. It's a fairly rare genetic disorder that means I absorb iron too well. That doesn't sound bad, except that the body doesn't have a way to filter iron from the blood. It just keeps floating around, stores itself in the bone marrow and in your organs (liver, kidneys, heart, brain). That is not good. It can eventually lead to heart, liver or kidney failure, etc. The usually treatment for hemachromatosis is theraputic phlebotomy, or to use a more medieval term, blood letting. The theory is that if you lose blood, the body will use stored iron to make more blood. I've had one phlebotomy session, and have to go back every two weeks through October and the first week of November. After that, my doctor will evaluate where my levels are and we'll decide what to do then.
In the meantime, I've severly cut back on my consumption of red meat (obviously a very good source of iron). I'm not sure how much that will help, but every little bit that I don't absorb doesn't have to be removed through phlebotomy.
Gary went with me to the first appointment. He was so funny. He deliberately mis-understood and kept saying that I was having theraputic lobotomies. It helped having him there. I have a pretty "light head" when giving blood (even just a blood draw will make me a bit woozy sometimes) so it was nice to know I wasn't going to have to drive home after the procedure.
My next appointment is on the 8th. I'm hoping that after a few appointments I won't have as much of an issue as I do now, but I'm not holding my breath!
In the meantime, I've severly cut back on my consumption of red meat (obviously a very good source of iron). I'm not sure how much that will help, but every little bit that I don't absorb doesn't have to be removed through phlebotomy.
Gary went with me to the first appointment. He was so funny. He deliberately mis-understood and kept saying that I was having theraputic lobotomies. It helped having him there. I have a pretty "light head" when giving blood (even just a blood draw will make me a bit woozy sometimes) so it was nice to know I wasn't going to have to drive home after the procedure.
My next appointment is on the 8th. I'm hoping that after a few appointments I won't have as much of an issue as I do now, but I'm not holding my breath!