An expected bump in the road

pinky104 said:

Iron

I got a blood transfusion myself, and four months later, I was having blood taken out of me because I found out that I have hemochromatosis (not the common form, but one where a person sometimes gets an iron overload and sometimes is okay).  It's a genetic thing, and I don't have the two genes that cause the normal form of it.  I have one messed up gene of another type.   Anyway, what I learned was that my ferritin (iron) level was at 962 when it shouldn't have been above 150.  In reading up on it, I learned that vitamin C helps the body store iron.  I had been taking large doses of vitamin C every day for about 20 years because I thought that with its being an antioxidant, it would protect me from diseases like cancer.  Wrong!!!  Having hemochromatosis can actually cause some cancers, but I don't know if uterine is one of them or not.  I've never read anything to indicate that it is.  I had to have an MRI back when I had my genetic testing to see if I had an iron overload in my abdominal organs, but none was found.  My uterus had already been removed months before I found I had hemochromatosis, so I don't know if it was built up there or not.

Anyway, you could try adding some vitamin C to your diet to see if that helps.  My oncologist made it sound like my chemo-induced anemia is different from iron-deficiency anemia, though, which I actually had when I was ten years old.  I had been eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for 2 weeks when I came down with that.  I was sicker then than I ever was with my cancer.  The lab tech told my doctor that my blood actually was white when they looked at it under the microscope.  I find it ironic (no pun intended) that I had an iron overload in my 60's from hemochromatosis, but my body wasn't storing extra iron when I was 10.  But then I guess I would have had to eat it to be able to store it. 

   

dates, as a source of iron.

I eat dry dates, apricots and figs, all organic.