Iron overload can be a hidden culprit behind several degenerative, chronic disease conditions, but it very often escapes diagnosis.  Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disorder that leads to iron overload.  It's remedy is phlebotomy; donating blood or having blood taken as a treatment.  Iron overload can lead to Type 2 Diabetes, liver and kidney damage, gastrointestinal problems such as Crohn's disease, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, affecting the brain, and more.  It must be recognized and addressed ASAP!

I have a client over last year for whom this diagnosis went missing. 

 

Perplexed by her seemingly unrelated but rather new diagnoses of Crohn’s disease, pre-diabetes, and osteoporosis, I did some deep digging and learned that each could be related to iron overload.  I sent her doctor a letter with the scientific information supporting that hypothesis.  The doctor ordered genetic testing.   My client tested positive but only for a one-gene defect, which is thought not to cause damage or symptoms.  This is simply not the case.  More on that later.  
 

At this point, I am infuriated regarding my client.  Her doctors - young whippersnapper PCP and gastroenterologist - both refuse to order phlebotomy, a simple draining off of excess blood to reduce iron load - preferring instead to focus on the health conditions it is causing.  Yes, with all of the medications and treatments those branches of the "not-so-wondrous root" are causing!

She COULD simply go to the Red Cross and donate blood, but you have to weigh 100 lb to do that, and she doesn't weigh 100 lb because she is so sick!  AND...  if you have hemochromatosis and want to donate to the Red Cross, don't tell them you have hemochromatosis, or they will not let you donate.  That's not because your blood isn't okay to donate into the vast pool of blood, but the rule is that if you NEED to donate blood, that's a medical treatment you should be paying for.  

I.  am.  livid.  

Today Dr. Joseph Mercola published a piece on iron overload, so I took it as the impetus to start developing my page on this topic.