First venesection done!

[RugbyMama]

Hubby had his first venesection treatment today. He was diagnosed with hereditary haemochromotosis in October and at point of diagnosis his ferritin levels were over 1500 - anything over 300 is high. Its treated by regularly removing blood, like a blood donation, up to a pint a week, every week for around a year until his levels come into normal range. Today was "just" half a pint, to get him started as some people can end up with a form of anaemia if the blood is removed too fast. The treatment was over in 5 minutes, the waiting around afterwards for 2 lots of observations took far longer!So this is my gentle nudge to you all. If you have Scottish or Irish heritage and your ferritin levels are unusually high, ask your GP/hepatologist/gastro to test for haemochromotosis if they have not already. We are lucky that a proactive gastro saw his ferritin level and somewhat celtic surname and ran the tests. His consultants are hopeful that reducing the iron overload might reduce the stress on liver and pancreas and that some damage could be reversible.

[ARM8]

That's great news! Good luck to him. My partner has (fingers crossed) just finished his weekly venesections which he had weekly for three months to get into the right range. He wasn't tired to begin with after treatment but towards the end it did take it out of him. He has Northern Irish on his Mum's side of the family.I'm praying for some reversing of the damage too. Again, good luck to your husband on all of this!

DM if you ever want to chat about anything. x

[Hdon]

That’s great to hear, so important to get a diagnosis of GH as it is often missed. I was diagnosed in 1990 with ferritin over 3000, still having venesections all these years later. Without that diagnosis I wouldn’t be here. For a great support group, try the Haemochromatosis Family Facebook Page. Well run and moderated, with lovely supportive people.