Hemochromatosis

This is a disease which affects approximately 115,000 people in Australia, and

over 35,625,000 people worldwide about 1 in every 200. People of European
descent are most at risk of having this disease. If hemochromatosis is left
untreated, many diseases can develop, such as osteoporosis or osteoarthritis in
your knees, elbows, shoulders and finger joints. Even though kids are born with
hemochromatosis, the very slow build up of iron means that it might not be
diagnosed until adulthood, when symptoms begin. (kidshealth, 2014).
Hemochromatosis doesnt actually give you an iron overload but it makes you
absorb about 3-6 times the human body should. The more you absorb the more
likely you have a much more severe case of Hemochromatosis.

How it can be treated

Hemochromatosis can be treated with many ways, a few below:

Reducing the amount of iron in your body to normal levels

Preventing or delaying organ damage from iron overload

Treating complications of the disease

Maintaining a normal amount of iron in your body for the rest of your life
(National heart, lung and blood institute, 2012)

How to remove iron from the body

The best way to remove excess iron from the body is to go through a process
called Iron Chelation Therapy. Iron chelation is a drug therapy for iron overload.
This therapy uses drugs called iron chelators to remove extra iron from your
body. (Iron Chelation Therapy, 2011)
There are other ways to treat hemochromatosis such as dietary changes.
Sometimes in a diet there can be too much food and people with
hemochromatosis can be affected by this. For example, Red meat, Pork, Poultry,
Seafood and Beans all contain lots of iron, so your doctor may tell you to avoid
eating these foods. Also having Vitamin can help increase the amount of iron
that your body absorbs. (National Heart, Lung and blood Institute, 2011).

What does an Iron overdose do to you?

Over time, iron will be stored in the bodys joints and organs. These organs are
generally very important and they include the heart, liver and brain, three crucial
organs. Over time, this iron can build to toxic levels that can cause diabetes and
damage or even destroy an organ. (Kidshealth, 2014).

Hemochromatosis and Kidney Failure

Another disease that can be developed by getting no treatment is Metabolic

Acidosis. Metabolic Acidosis is a disease that occurs when there is too much acid
in the body or the bodily fluids. This generally occurs when the kidneys stop
working efficiently enough to remove the acid. For example, if you have
Metabolic Acidosis the ph of your blood could get lower. The ph of your blood
could drop from the normal 7.5, a basic solution, to say 6.5, which is an acidic
solution. This all comes back to one thing. Kidney failure, and that is caused by
an overdose of iron in about 93% of cases.
Around 1.7 million Australians aged 18 years and over (one in every ten adults)
have signs of chronic kidney disease. (Kidney Health Australia, 2014). This is
equal to approximately 13.59% of Australias population.