Hemochromatosis
, or iron overload, is a condition in which your body stores too much iron. It's often genetic. It can cause serious damage to your body, including to your heart, liver and pancreas. You can't prevent the disease, but early diagnosis and treatment can avoid, slow or reverse organ damage.
How does iron overload occur?
Iron overload occurs
when there are excess stores of iron in the body
. Primary iron overload is often inherited. Secondary iron overload usually arises from causes such as transfusion, hemolysis, or excessive parenteral and/or dietary consumption of iron.
What disorder is caused by an excess of iron?
Hereditary hemochromatosis
(he-moe-kroe-muh-TOE-sis) causes your body to absorb too much iron from the food you eat. Excess iron is stored in your organs, especially your liver, heart and pancreas. Too much iron can lead to life-threatening conditions, such as liver disease, heart problems and diabetes.
When does iron overload occur?
Secondary iron overload occurs
when iron accumulates in the body because people take too many iron supplements, receive a large number of blood transfusions
, or have a disorder in which they cannot form red blood cells efficiently. People often feel weak and tired. Diagnosis is with blood tests to measure iron level.
What causes iron overload other than hemochromatosis?
Secondary or acquired iron overload state, in the absence of an abnormal gene, suggests disorders such as chronic hemolytic anemias, dysmetabolic hyperferritinemia, chronic liver disease due to
alcohol
, hepatitis B or C, porphyria cutanea tarda and iatrogenic iron overload conditions.
What causes high iron levels in males?
One of the primary causes of high iron levels in men is
the genetic condition of hemochromatosis
. Also known as iron overload, this hereditary disorder causes the absorption of too much iron during digestion.
How is iron overload detected?
- Serum transferrin saturation. This test measures the amount of iron bound to a protein (transferrin) that carries iron in your blood. …
- Serum ferritin. This test measures the amount of iron stored in your liver.
How do you reverse iron overload?
Iron chelation therapy involves
taking oral or injected medicine
to remove excess iron from the body. Medications can include a drug that binds the excess iron before the body excretes it. Although doctors do not tend to recommend this as a first-line treatment for hemochromatosis, it may be suitable for some people.
What level of iron is considered overload?
Iron level
greater than 3 μg/g
indicate iron overload, whereas iron level greater than 6 μg/g is considered diagnostic for significant overload. Gene testing for C282Y mutation is helpful to predict predisposition to HH because it is the most common mutation in white populations.
What iron level is too high?
A score below 26 mcg/dL is outside the normal range for women. For men, a low score is anything below 76 mcg/dL. An abnormally high iron level would be
above 198 mcg/dL for men and over 170 mcg/dL for women
.
How long does iron stay in your system?
About 25 percent of the iron in the body is stored as ferritin, found in cells and circulates in the blood. The average adult male has about 1,000 mg of stored iron (enough for
about three years
), whereas women on average have only about 300 mg (enough for about six months).
How does high iron make you feel?
Too much iron (not too little) can cause serious health problems like
fatigue, joint pain, diabetes and liver disease
. Feeling a bit tired and worn out? Vague symptoms like these are common in iron deficiency and anaemia.
Can high iron levels cause weight gain?
Increased iron stores are a risk factor for diabetes.
Iron deficiency
is associated with increased weight, although little is known about the effects of higher iron stores on weight.
What are the symptoms of high ferritin levels?
- stomach pain.
- heart palpitations or chest pains.
- unexplained weakness.
- joint pain.
- unexplained fatigue.
Can stress cause high iron levels?
In our study, the increased iron concentration was mainly related to the
iron uptake
of hepatocytes according to hepatic iron distribution. Psychological stress changed iron distribution and transportation and limited the iron acquisition from diet and utilization in blood.
What is dangerously high ferritin levels?
Many laboratories consider serum ferritin levels greater than 200 ng/mL in women and
greater than 300 ng/mL in men
to be abnormal. However, a large percentage of the general population has a serum ferritin level between 200 and 1,000 ng/mL.
