Hemochromatosis, also known as iron overload, is when you have too much iron in your body. Iron is a mineral that people absorb through the foods they eat and is important for growth and development. However, too much iron is a problem because it gets stored in your organs, specifically the liver and pancreas. Therefore, if you have too much iron in your system, it can lead to failure of the liver and other organs.
Because hemochromatosis is a life-threatening condition, it is important to seek an early diagnosis and treatment. Hemochromatosis is caused by a genetic mutation that impacts the genes that affect how much iron is stored in the body. It is often inherited from parents who are carriers of the gene. While there is no permanent cure for hemochromatosis and no way to prevent the disease, there are treatments that can manage the amount of iron that is in your body.
The primary treatment for hemochromatosis is to receive periodic phlebotomies. A phlebotomy is a procedure where blood gets removed from your body, similar to how people donate blood. Blood removal is necessary because a majority of iron is contained in red blood cells. Therefore, by removing the blood, you are removing iron along with it.
When you are first starting treatment, you will need a phlebotomy once or twice per week. However, as treatment continues, you may only need these treatments once or twice per month, or even less. You will need to continue treatments for the rest of your life to keep your iron count at a manageable rate.
Another option to treat hemochromatosis is to use medications known as iron chelation therapy. These medications are given via injection or orally and are designed to remove excess iron from the body. It does this by binding to iron in your blood, which then gets vacated in your stool or urine. However, because chelation therapy is not as effective as a phlebotomy, chelation is only used when you have a health condition that makes a phlebotomy too dangerous to perform.
Currently, deferasirox and deferoxamine are the iron chelation medications of choice.
Another reason that doctors do not prefer to use iron chelation therapy to treat hemochromatosis is because of the unwanted side effects of this medication.
Because hemochromatosis is caused by excess iron in the blood, it will be necessary to make dietary adjustments to reduce the amount of iron you absorb in your food. You should also avoid any supplements or vitamins that may contain iron, such as Vitamin C. Finally, you should avoid alcohol. Alcohol damages the liver, which can complicate matters if your liver has already sustained damage due to hemochromatosis.
Hemochromatosis is a slowly progressing disease that takes years to wear down your liver, pancreas, and heart. However, if you leave it undiagnosed and untreated, hemochromatosis can be fatal due to organ failure. While you cannot cure hemochromatosis, you can manage it. Therefore, it is extremely important to make the necessary dietary changes and to receive regular phlebotomies or chelation therapy to keep your condition under control.