I had to spend this afternoon in a recliner

I had to spend the afternoon in a recliner at an infusion center this afternoon to receive a dose of InFed, in iron infusion.

As some may know, I have a hereditary condition called Hemochromatosis that causes my body to load iron excessively. Untreated, it can and does cause significant damage to all major organs. One of the reasons that I chose a malabsorbtive procedure was to leverage the malabsorbtion of iron. Before my RNY, I had regular phlebotomies to drain off the excess iron from my body. After my RNY my iron levels dropped to and remained at a safe level. For many years, I have been a Red Cross blood donor, but I hadn't donated for a couple of years. When the Red Cross contacted me last year to ask for a donation, I said I'd be glad to donate and did twice. My serum ferritin dropped. This year I did the same thing, and my serum ferritin tanked down to 5, but I didn't think about the correlation of the donations to the drop in my serum ferritin level. Now I feel like an idiot. I should have realized that donating was risky for me. At any rate, I have been suffering from severe bouts of insomnia, extreme ehaustion, feeling achy all over, especially in my hands and feet, along with restless leg syndrome. I've also been experiencing more significant depression, confusion, fragmented thoughts, short term memory loss, etc... Today I saw my Hematologist and she said that all of the symptoms I'm experiencing are related to Iron Avidity. She ordered an InFed iron infusion for me this afternoon and cautioned me to no longer donate to the Red Cross; while it is a worthy cause if you have the bandwidth, I no longer am able to make donations and maintain a healthy serum ferritin level. She believes that once my serum ferritin is brought up through the infusion, I'm likely to be able to maintain it as long as I don't make any more donations. I am hoping to see improvement soon. 

 

Sorry your going through this right now :( My aunt and cousin have hemochromatosis..Thanks for doing the support group even though you weren't feeling well! Hope you were able to rest after it!

Hi Kim -

It was so good to see you today. I'm delighted to hear that you are already experiencing relief from the headaches and am hoping you will continue to have relief from your symptoms. 

Thanks for your well wishes. I'm getting ready to go lay down for a bit. 

See you next month, if not before.

Regards,