Blood test results

Hi Cheryl i had my gene test and im positive for hh my parents are both carriers . my ferritin is 220 not high i no but my t.s. is 87% but ive been having symptoms of heart racing flutters joint pain fatigue and breathlessness . my doctor said its too early to tell symptoms are related but i no my own body and i also have under active thyroid over two years. my dad died of liver cancer only confined to his liver v strange. can you help me out with advice and answers my sibblings need to be tested and my sons. cheers

Hi Yvonne, what HFE genes do you have? These can make a difference in aggression. C282Y is usually more aggressive than H63D - but some people do not load iron and are asymptomatic. I too had those symptoms while undiagnosed, and still do but at a lesser level, but enough to make it impossible for me to continue working, even though my ferritin levels are in the 20s, and TS% has finally come below the high range (this last took about 20 years of vx).

Your ferritin is ❤️00 which is the reference range for post menopause but high if you are menstruating. TS87% is a big indication of having GH. Is you dr ordering vx for you? It would be a good idea based on the reference ranges I have given you. With regard to your symptoms, it does not matter if they are caused by GH (and no doubt they are), as it is necessary to have them addressed in the same manner as if you did not have GH.

Vx might only reduce or prevent it getting worse. Although I had significant results with arrythmia dissipating when I had a few vx. It does come back when my ferritin goes higher. I have been successful in reducing the arrythmia by doing some slow breathing and in my mind, willing the speed down. (I am not a meditator, but I do have stop and focus.) I also bought one of those monitors that runners use - a band that goes around the chest which sends signals to a type of wrist band, and I can watch the heart rate go down. It is called bio-feedback.

A heart specialist gave me the best advice ever - they can't drain the iron from the heart or cut it out, all I can do is keep having vx. That put things into perspective.

Your dr should address your joint pain, but most people say it never goes away. Vit B12 and Vit D levels is very important, and researchers in France talk about CoQ10 and Vit E.

Let us know how you go.

How did I get a 'heart' when I meant to type 300??!!

Yes, you have all the markers for haemochromatosis, but it is low at this point. For males serum ferritin should not be >300, TS% should not be >50, serum iron 30 so you are just over the mark and caught early.

GH (genetic haemochromatosis) can feel like you are foggy and fluey all the time, but not necessarily with a fever. Although you can feel unusually hot or cold. You can be prone to thyroid and diabetes too. I too felt like I had a swollen heart which ached for 12 months prior to diagnosis and treatment. That dissipated with vx treatment. I did not have high cholesterol.

GH is a hormone thief and you may have experienced some loss of libido. You would need your testosterone and other pituitary gland hormones tested.

Eliminate sugars and starches from your diet to prevent fatty liver (oh, and keep your intake of alcohol down), but you can still eat red meat and greens to keep your Hb up for venesections. Even though your levels are not really high, it is still recommended to have vx and to get your ferritin down to about 50 to de-iron. You can then go up to a level you are comfortable with. My ferritin is in the 20s now and there is no problems with having a ferritin of that level because my Hb is still in a healthy range. It is wrong to just vx to just lower than 300, as you need to get that stale ferritin out of your cells. Some drs do not know that.

Good luck with it and if you have any more questions, keep posting.

it will tell you if you do.