Discussions

Anyone who has had this once some iron was removed did you feel any better ?

My husband's iron was high and he was told to donate blood. He donates four times a year at blood donor clinic. and his iron level is now normal. He did not feel any different when his iron was high.

I had some iron removed and it made a world of difference. People stopped staring at me and they finally stopped ridiculing me at my gym... I feel like those close to me noticed a big difference too.  
 
For the first time in my life last week, I was able to complete all of my reps/sets. I really, truly believe this was due to removing some iron.

Several years ago I was told my iron (ferritin) level was too high. Never had symptoms, but since then I did a few things that have helped lower it: I donated blood a couple of times: stopped taking 1000mg/per day of supplemental vitamin C (vitamin C facilitates the absorption of iron): cut way back on red meat (the best source of heme iron): checked labels for packaged foods to avoid for "fer" level: drank 1 or more cups of green tea daily. Result has been good - my iron level is staying normal now.

So...my question is, what are the symptoms of high iron? For the poster who mentioned the gym, why would people look at you differently? I am uneducated in this subject and wanted to know more.

I have a friend whose husband has this problem (hemochromatosis)-they are in Ohio and for whatever reason his doctors never diagnosed the problem until he had major liver damage. Initially they said he had RA and tried to treat him for that. It did not work. By the time he was diagnosed he was very, very sick and his liver was shutting dow. He ended up having a transplant. I am not sure why people would look at you different because of the condition? I know another person here with the condition and he does not look different from anyone else, though his is well managed and he is suffering no ill effects from it.

One symptom some people have as the condition develops, that might be noticeable to others, is a change of skin colour to bronze or grayish.