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Hemochromatosis
October 13, 2009 |
It’s the most common genetic disease around, but many people have never even heard
of it. “
An old name for hemochromatosis was bronze diabetes.” Dr. Lowell Hart, an oncology
hemotology specialist on the Lee Memorial Health System staff, defines hemochromatosis
as simply “iron overload in the body.” That extra iron not only changes your skin
color, it can damage other parts of the body.
“The warning signs of this disease can be liver problems, sometimes they can get
arthritis, can get joint pains, they can get diabetes, they can get a change in
their skin color where their skin gets sort of a bronze tint,” adds
Dr. Hart.
Hemochromatosis can cause respiratory problems, impotence, even heart failure.
Dr. Hart says our current lifestyle could be the reason why more cases are being
diagnosed. “It’s one of those things where in say, caveman times, if you have to
chase down a sabertooth tiger to get some iron or meat in you or your system,
then it was probably a good thing to absorb extra iron but now, in our current time,
when you can go and get a double Whopper at every street corner, now, we see the
other side of the coin,” he
explains.
Checking iron levels can be done through a simple blood test. If the disease is
caught early, treatment is extremely manageable.
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