Monday, April 13, 2009

More on Hemochromatosis

Did some research last night about Hemochromatosis and found this interesting little tidbit from the Iron Disorders Institute web site:

Mismanaged iron in the brain is seen in those patients with neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer's, early onset Parkinson's, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington's disease.


Hmmm.... makes you wonder. In the last 4 years, I've had 2 spikes in blood iron. I compared the testing dates with my blood donor history and found that in both cases, there had been a "gap" in my regular blood donations for one reason or another. The worst one happened after I hadn't given blood for over a year.

I think I need to talk to my doctor about this, especially since I'm no longer menstruating, so I'm at higher risk for extra iron building up in my body. I also need to do some more research.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you made this connection I was about to email you about this. My mother has Parkinsons disease and Hemochromatosis(though interestingly carries only one c282y).Keep googling-the connection between the two diseases is fairly strong,iron has been associated with Parkinsons disease for a very long time although the medical establishment says there is no direct proof it causes Parkinsons disease! Perhaps the 23andme study will reveal some interesting data on this connection and not just with the Parkinsons genes.

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Anonymous said...

I'm curious if you ever found out anything from your doctor about the correlation in hemochromatosis and Parkinson's? I am doing research for my husband and father-in-law. My husband had a recent blood test offered free through his job which showed a high iron level. We believe this may be the first time his iron has ever been tested, as it is not usually included in routine blood work. For the past few years he has had elevated liver enzymes and no known cause. He was also diagnosed with central Diabetes Insipidus as a young child with no known cause. I am wondering if he has had undiagnosed high iron since birth and it damaged his pituitary (causing central diabetes insipidus) and now has caused some liver damage. My father-in-law was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of about 56 (without tremors) and no known cause. I'm also wondering if he has undiagnosed hemochromatosis that has caused his Parkinson's type symptoms.

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I'm a lucky lady. I have a wonderful husband of 27 years, a fantastic 25 year old son (I'm so proud of him!) a loving and supportive family, the best friends in the world, a job that I love, and... Parkinson's Disease. I was diagnosed in September 2006. That was a jolt, but I'm learning to deal with it.