Hemochromatosis Research Paper

The most prominent cause of Iron Deficiency Anemia is bleeding. Blood loss from the Gastrointestinal Tract is a significant cause of anemia for both men and women. When blood is present in excrement, a gastrointestinal problem exists. Many times, people are unaware of these problems with their waste products. When they begin to feel the symptoms of anemia and undergo tests that determine that they are anemic, it begins the process of discovering more health problems. Anemia can serve as the precursor of certain diseases. There are many instances when it is merely a sign of severe disease such as a peptic ulcer disease, gastritis, hemorrhoids, angiodysplasis of the colon, and colonic adenocarcinoma (http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/sep_96/browne.htm).

Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease in which there is too much iron that builds up in your body, this is referred to as an iron overload. Iron is an essential nutrient found in many foods but can be toxic to our bodies if we have to much. “Normally, humans absorb about 8-10% of the iron found in foods that they eat.” People with Hemochromatosis can absorb up to four times more iron than a normal human being. Since our bodies have no natural way to get rid of the extra iron, it gets stored in your body tissue including the liver, heart, pancreas and many other areas of our body can also be infected by this iron overload.

People may not know they have hemochromatosis since in the early stages they may not have any symptoms. In this stage, the only way the disorder can be detected is through routine blood tests and the doctor noticing elevated iron levels in the blood. Usually, the first and most common symptoms of hemochromatosis is joint pain and fatigue, but these are symptoms which occur in several other diseases and disorders, so the diagnosis is frequently held up or even overlooked. “Pain in the knuckles of the pointer and middle finger, collectively called ‘The Iron Fist,’ is the only sign or symptom specific to hemochromatosis. However, not everyone with HHC experiences the Iron Fist” (“WHAT IS HEMOCHROMATOSIS?” n.d.).

Sharon Moalem discusses is hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is a disorder that disrupts iron metabolization, by absorbing excess iron instead of passing it through the body, causing iron to build up in the organs, especially the liver, heart and pancreas. The symptoms are joint pain, fatigue, and weakness. It was first described by Armand Trousseau in 1865, but is thought to have originated with the Vikings and spread throughout Northern and Western Europe. The genetic variant for hemochromatosis is very common among people of Western European descent, but only one in two hundred of those people have the disease with all of the assorted symptoms. Hemochromatosis can be diagnosed through blood and genetic tests, and it can be treated through the ancient practice of phlebotomy, or bloodletting. This lowers the amount of iron in the blood, and in the body, to safe levels. But although it is easily treatable, if left unchecked, hemochromatosis can lead to serious complications. As Dr. Moalem says, “Unchecked, hemochromatosis can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders, and even cancer. Unchecked, hemochromatosis will lead to death.” Thus, before the days of genetic and blood testing, hemochromatosis was a very dangerous disease, and often caused death in middle age. It is here that Dr. Moalem raises the question: if hemochromatosis was so deadly, why was it passed down for so many generations? Unless it provided our ancestors with an advantage, such a damaging disease would not have remained in their gene

Hemochromatosis, also called iron overload, is a disease when the body absorbs too much iron from the food we eat and most often affects the liver, heart, pancreas, and skin. It is usually caused by genes in the body that mutate keeping them from working. Some signs and symptoms of this disease are weakness, joint pain, low libido, and/or if the disease has progressed to far diabetes or heart failure. Hemochromatosis is one of the more difficult diseases to diagnose because many symptoms are nonspecific and usually many people don’t show as many symptoms except elevated iron levels in their blood. Most will be treated with blood transfusions until the normal level of iron is reached. If diagnosed early the prognosis is excellent with possible checkups or phlebotomies.

Take hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition that causes iron to accumulate in a person's body. A person having hemochromatosis

Iron deficiency anemia, one of the most common types of anemia, is a blood disorder where

Hemochromatosis is a deadly disease in which the body believes that it never has enough iron. The body, as a result is that iron is not filtered out through the intestines, it is always entering the body. This iron runs out of places to be stored, and is spread throughout the body. These iron stores eventually end up changing the body and causing damage to major organs and joints. Hemochromatosis can lead to cancer, heart failure, and a plethora of other problems.

Iron is one of the important minerals that is required for our bodies to function properly. Most of the iron in our body is found in the blood such as haemoglobin, approximately 60 -70% of the human body’s iron is found in the haemoglobin, a protein in the blood that transports oxygen. Iron is also present in muscle tissue and some enzymes. There are two types of iron in the body which are “Heme Iron” from animal products and “Non-Heme Iron” vegetables and

Iron is an important nutrient because it helps carry oxygen in the hemoglobin in red blood cells around the human body. When a healthy iron supply is reached, the body immediately stops absorbing the nutrient, and just lets it past through the digestive system. However, people with hemochromatosis absorb all the iron from the food consumed, past healthy levels.­­­­­­ All the extra iron spreads throughout the body, and unevitably causes great damage to major organs and almost all other parts of the body. According to Survival of the Sickest, "hemochromatosis can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders,... cancer," and other diseases if left untreated (Maulem

Hemochromatosis is when there is excess iron in the body. It is a genetic disorder that is passed down each generation and is inherited by the offspring. Iron overload directly affects the circulatory system but eventually the complications can affect the whole body and many major organs. In addition, hemochromatosis can show no symptoms but the body sometimes shows

Polyploidy variation in chromosomal number due to addition of one or more haploid sets of chromosomes.

Your doctor will look for symptoms of anemia and other physical clues that might point to a cause. There are basically three different causes of anemia: blood loss, decreased or faulty red blood cell production, or destruction of red blood cells Complete blood count (CBC), which determines the number, size, volume, and hemoglobin content of red blood cells . Blood iron level and your serum ferritin level, the best indicators of your body's total iron stores . Levels of vitamin B12 and folate, vitamins necessary for red blood cell production . Special blood tests to detect rare causes of anemia, such as an immune attack on your red blood cells, red blood cell fragility, and defects of enzymes, hemoglobin, and clotting Reticulocyte count, bilirubin, and other blood and urine tests to determine how quickly your blood cells are being made or if you have a hemolytic anemia, where your red blood cells .Only in rare cases will a doctor need to remove a sample of bone marrow to determine the cause of your anemia.Medical professionals use medication,therapy, surgery, and

The HFE gene, that causes the disease officially known as hemochromatosis, is found on the short arm of chromosome six (Dostalikova-Cimburova et al., 2012). This HFE gene codes for a protein that is found on the surface of liver, intestinal, and immune cells (D’Alessio et al., 2012). The HFE protein interacts with many other proteins to cooperatively regulate the amount of iron present in the body. The HFE protein regulates a very important protein called hepcidin. Hepcidin is the main trans membrane protein that uses hormones to regulate iron in the body (Van Dijk et al., 2008).

Choice “A” is the best answer. All of the choices are complications of parathyroid surgery. The development of an expanding hematoma in the pretracheal space has the highest mortality in postoperative patients if left untreated as it compresses the airway. This complication must be recognized and treated immediately by opening the wound and evacuating the hematoma. If untreated, the hematoma may progress rapidly, causing airway obstruction. In contrast, most small hematomas do not require treatment[1].