Victoria’s Read

Hemochromatosis (HHC) is a leading cause of iron overload disease. People with HHC absorb extra amounts of iron from the daily diet. Over time, these excesses build up in major organs such as the heart, liver, pancreas, joints and pituitary. If the extra iron is not removed, these organs can become diseased.
Untreated hemochromatosis can be fatal. Iron carries oxygen (in hemoglobin) to all parts of the body.

Normally, humans absorb about 8-10% of the iron in foods that they eat. People with HHC can absorb four times that amount.  Iron cannot be excreted therefore the metal can reach toxic levels in tissues of major organs. These overburdened organs cease to function properly and eventually become diseased.

Therefore, undiagnosed and untreated HHC increases the risk for diseases and conditions such as diabetes mellitus, irregular heart beat or heart attack, arthritis (osteoarthritis, osteoporosis), cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer, depression, impotence, infertility, hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, and some cancers.

Mismanaged iron in the brain is seen in those patients with neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s, early onset Parkinson’s, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington’s disease.

Chronic fatigue and joint pain are the most common complaint of people with hemochromatosis. Other common symptoms include, lack of energy, abdominal pain, loss of sex drive, and heart flutters or irregular heart beat.

In women, symptoms usually start about 10-15 years after they stop having a period.

Hemochromatosis can be overlooked by a doctor who is concentrating on treatment of diseases that are present in the patient. Many doctors still believe what they learned in medical school, that hemochromatosis is rare and only happens in older men. When hemochromatosis is discovered early and treated before organ damage can occur, a person can live a normal, healthy life. 
www.hemochromatosis.org