Saturday, November 3, 2012

"I don't know about this, but I'd like to." - Post 3

I am always up for learning new things, especially when it is about something that affects someone I know.  Recently I was asked if I knew anything about Hemochromatosis.  I had never heard of it, so I did like everyone else would.. went to Google.  Iron overload.  Can you imagine?  I've heard of low iron, but never too much iron.  Some of the symptoms looked like symptoms of diabetes:  fatigue, lack of energy, weight loss.  They even check blood glucose levels when testing for Hemochromatosis.  It is even noted that this disease can lead to the development of diabetes due to damage to the pancreas.  I must admit, this is one of the few times that I heard of a complication causing diabetes instead of diabetes causing a complication.

This is one thing that I don't know about, but I would sure like to.  Is there something that can help delay the development?  Is phlebotomy the best treatment?  Can it be reversed?  Will it come back?  And the all important, never answered, WHY?  Sounds like I have some research to do.

2 comments:

  1. wow - something that causes diabetes - how does one get too much iron? Great questions and info. I wonder how many people could be wrongly diagnosed with Type 2 when they really have too much Iron? glad to see you made it through day 3.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It does make you wonder about possible mis-diagnosis. The friend I have that asked me if I knew about it, was diagnosed Type 2 about a week before. It will be very interesting to watch how this all plays out for him.

    ReplyDelete