Hi, I am 56 year old white female and have recently been suffering bad headaches, feeling cold, achy, sore joints, I do have arthritis in hands and neck, fatigue (not tiredness as in need to sleep) just really lethargic, also dizzy buzzy spells and really dry skin. Also have weird metal taste in mouth and urine really yellow but that could be supplements. Thought it may be B12 levels as I am a long term user of PPI's. So have been taking iron supplements and today a bit bored so googled symptoms and found that the symptoms for low iron are the same as high iron!!!! Have made a GP appt for next week as have had low iron before, one other thing I recently had an ultrasound to check stomach and GP said all ok. When I visited later another GP said liver showed an element of fatty liver which was to be expected, liver problems are part of too much iron I think. Should I stop the iron supplements and how do I approach it at GP's - I do not want to say am I low on iron in case they do not test for too much, or is that all in the same test? My last FBC middle of 2015 showed bloods all good. Any thoughts
It's the same test,iron levels are tested and will show them if they are high or low
Those sound like a lot of the symptoms I had, I was 55 when I found out. Found out because liver counts were going up. Stop taking the iron immediately until you get your results. It is hereditary, do your parents have it? My mom is a carrier and my dad had it without ever being diagnosed, he died of leukemia. I have both genes from both parents. I have arthritis really bad. I was super hot all the time when my ferritin was high. I feel better now. Good luck.
No, don't say you are low on iron because you don't know that you are. Describe your symptoms, and if your dr does not do so, request an Iron Studies test. Drs don't do this test as a matter of course, although they should.
As the others say, stop taking the iron supplements.
Thanks. Guessed it would be wondered whether gp needed to specify which to test. That is good as hopefully if can get tested all wil be listed.
Hi, unfortunately both parents gone so cannot ask them. It is weird that you mention being hot as up until month ago was always hot, started hrt as flushes so bad which is when cold hands started. Have noticed the last couple of days am getting hot again, may be because I am taking supplements. Have not taken them today and will not until see go next week. One other thing, sorry to ask but did you poo smell metallic.
Hi Sherry, have stopped today and will see what GP says next week. I will ask for test if not offered but hopefully as I have been low before she should offer anyway. Take care
I do not know about the poo, but I do know that I stopped drinking white wine because it tastes metallic, I dont feel that way, now that you mention it. I would get so hot in the sun, that I would feel nauseaous.
The test you need is the ferritin level and then I think at one point they will test your genes. You mentioned that your parents are gone. Did they die of pancreatic, liver, or heart disease or any kind of cancer? What about their parents? If you can say yes to any of this, you need to get yourself to a hemotologist right away.
In the USA you can donate blood if you have hemochromotosis, because it is not contagious. I made two donations, while I was being set up for my weekly draws.
Don't mess around with this. Let us know.
Also, if you did really have it, one of your parents would have had it. How about your siblings. If one parent had it, your grandparents had it.
In my case. My mom was a carrier and dad had it. It is a northern europeon disease, primarily irish. My parents are northern europeon and both have Irish. My mom's dad died of pancreatic cancer at 52, so he was the culprit for passing to my mom. My dad died of leukemia, his sister died of liver cancer. I do not believe that his dad had it, but may have been a carrier. My grandmother had diabetes at an early age (40's) also had heart complications, may have had it, but they gave birth to two people that had it.
It is so weird in the USA they don't hardly recognize it or test it unless you ask for it. Although, the internet says it is a common blood disease.
Iron Studies are different to the test for anemia which usually only involves haemoglobin and serum iron.
Iron Studies includes ferritin iron, transferrin saturation%, serum iron, and TIBC or similar. So you need to be specific.
Hi, my mum died of lung cancer, she was a heavy smoker, not sure about dad as estranged. Grandparents was heart problems, although nan did have diabetes. We are not Irish so no connection there. I think genes have a lot to play in what happens to us and I am trying to trace father to see if still alive or if not what he died of. Weird thing though since stopping iron am not so fatigued?
I am going to GP next so will see what happens.
I had full blood tests middle of last year and was told I had really good blood for my age, whatever that means as I am only 56. Will see what happens next week. Take care
Unfortunately it does not show up in a regular blood test. You have to have your ferritin tested. You should google and read about hemochromatosis. It is very interesting, having a high iron count. I certainly hope that you do not have it, but if you do it can be managed.
I am glad you said that, terrihigashi. People think full blood tests include EVERYTHING. They do not, as you know.
Drs should do an Iron Studies as a matter of course as it is a window to a lot of health issues, but they tend to ignore it.
Hi, my family isn't of Irish decent, either, but we have both H63D & C282Y genes. We have French & Dutch ancestry. The Celts were quite widespread, though, if you look into the history, not just Ireland.
Sorry, that should be descent! Think they were decent!! Lol. Trying to reply using my phone & there's a pop-up covering most of the screen. Grrrr. Xx
The Scandinavians are thought to be responsible for C282Y and spread around the northern European countries including Holland. The Celts were mainly in France.
However, recent dna tests on ancient 5000 year old bones (long before the Celts were around) have revealed H63D, and 4000 year old bones (C282Y), so it seems the HFE gene was around much earlier than the Celts were (the earliest recorded existence of Celts in France is 500BC).
Thank you, that's really interesting. Where would I find more information about that, Sheryl?
Google Prof Dan Bradley, Ireland. And 'Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome'.
You will need to read up on the Celts separately, because archiologists have not found evidence that the Celts from France moved to Ireland.
A dna company, from their statistics of those with C282Y, believe that the Scandinavians were responsible for C282Y which does not fit Prof Bradley's findings of the existence of C282Y in some Bronze Age bones, which existed 2500 years before the 'Vikings' came to Ireland, or France for that matter.
Thank you, fascinating x