Joni Haywood experienced symptoms of fatique and arthritis. She was not feeling well.

Joni thought she needed some a vitamin boost, so she went to see her doctor. A blood test showed high ferritin, a type of iron stored in the tissues. Her doctor didn't know what to make of it, so Joni went looking for answers. Her search took her to the website of the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society and to a specialist who confirmed she had a common disorder of absorbing too much iron.

Dr. Sigfried Erb, Liver Specialist at VGH, says, "the iron deposits in the liver, pancreas, heart and joints and causes disease there. You can end-stage liver disease and heart failure.

Although, iron overload is easily detected with a simple but non-standard blood test, the genetic disorder is often overlooked because early sysmptoms can ne non-specific and attributed to other causes like diabetes or arthritis.

Dr. Erb says, "oftentimes, a physician won't think of hemochromatosis because he's got a lot of patients with diabetes and arthritis."

Luckily, Joni's hemachromatosis was diagnosed early enough. Her treatment consists of de-ironing with regular phlebotomies or the removal of blood.

"At first, doing it weekly, I went throughsix months of weekly treatments. Now, I do it once a month and that's for the rest of my life."

Joni's father was a regular blood donor, she doesn't know if he like her had the full blown disorder or just carried the gene.

Joni says, " he was a regular blood donor. He fave blood every two months. If he had the disease, that would have really saved his life."

One in 9 causasians are carriers of this genetic disorder. The blood from hemochromatosis patients is usable by blood banks in many countries but not right now in Canada. Because the Canadian blood service only takes blood from donors every 56 days, but there is a move to get the blood services here to accept donations from hemochromatosis patients who fit all other criteria.

Friday July 7, 2006