Iron Overload / Haemochromatosis - Please Read!

I wish there was a category on here devoted to health issues only, but I thought this was the one that my post sort of fits into.

Haemochromatosis is a disease which affects about 1 on every 200 - 300 people around the world (mostly Caucasians). Haemochromatosis or "iron overload" as it's sometimes called is normally a mutation in your genes (however, it can sometimes be caused due to an illness) which makes you absorb too much iron and store it in your body. The iron will eventually deposit itself around your organs and if it goes untreated for a long period of time it can lead to organ failure, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, infertility, etc.

Women generally aren't diagnosed until they are about 50 and men are normally diagnosed around the age of 40; regular periods are the reason for women being diagnosed later in life.

Some symptoms are as follows:

Arthritic pain
Fatigue
Drop in libido
Anxiety (although doctors will tell you this isn't related, myself and other iron overload patients often suffer from it)
Heart palpitations / arrhythmia
Yellowing of the skin
Fogginess / drunk-feeling in your head

Certain foods very high in iron are spinach, beets, red meat. ** note that if you have iron overload stay away from raw shellfish has they contain a bacteria that uses iron to spread and it can be devastating.

I am posting this on here because doctors do not regularly check your iron levels. Where I live (in Canada) your iron level should be in the range of 12 - 200, otherwise that is abnormal and you are most likely either anemic or you have haemochromatosis. They will only test if you tell them that you are concerned about it and that is utter s*** because if this goes untreated you will most likely die of organ failure when you get older.

The good news? It's easily treated.

I was diagnosed when I was only 21 years old (I am 25 now). My chronic fatigue was causing worry so I had my doctor check my levels and they were higher than they should be. I was lucky that I found out so young as no damage had been done to any of my organs. With regular phlebotomies / venesections (you have a bag of blood drawn periodically depending on the severity of your case) I am as healthy as someone without iron overload and my life expectancy remains the same. However, the longer you go without treatment the more likely irreversible damage has been done to your organs.

I tell everyone that I meet to please, please get your iron tested. Half the time people think that I'm joking but I'm not. This is a serious and extraordinarily common issue that apparently no one is aware of so PLEASE test your iron.