Iron-man.

You knew I was an ironman, but it turns out I might be iron overloaded. It's called hemochromatosis (AKA Iron overload disease or 'genetic iron poisoning'). It's genetic. What it means is that your body doesn't metablolize iron like it should. I was debating on wether or not to put this on my blog, but I decided what the heck, the only people that read it are friends and family that have been sent the URL by me (I think only like 4 people read it and that includes my mom).

The fact is, I actually don't even have -any- iron overload symptoms (fatigue, joint pain, arthritis). How did we find out about this you say? Well, my brother was tested a few weeks ago and it came up positive for him. He was in the doctor for a respiratory sickness (like the flu) and the doc heard a heart murmur or something, and did more tests, and by chance, found high iron levels in his blood (BTW his heart is fine). The disease is hereditary, so he promptly informed me, and then both myself and my dad were tested. I just found out the results of my blood test yesterday, and what do you know, I have full blown hemochromatosis. (So does my dad!) Now, I'm messing up the medical terms, but the iron level in my blood is something like 1080 (where a normal level is like 50-460 or so) I'm going to the hemotologist next week, and I'm going to read my ass off about this thing and I'll be able to post better info then.

It kind of makes a little sense too, because my dads parents were young (well younger anyway) when they passed away (70s) and my moms parents lived into their mid 90s. Also, my dads the oldest one of his cousins that's still alive. People die young on the 'Ness' side of the family. I wonder why? Well, (speculation) it's this iron thing!! Iron overload. Hemochromatosis. I'm still learning how to pronounce it.

Sound serious? Well it sorta is, and it can really mess you up if you don't know you have it. The thing with my brother and I is we discovered it now, before we have experienced symptoms and this thing has wrecked our liver or any other organs. Hemochromatosis is actually one of the FEW genetic diseases that has a prevention plan so organ damage and premature death can be avoided. WOO HOO! And I don't even have to take drugs! From what I'm learning (have not yet seen the hemotologist) is that the treatment is to give blood every so often (like every week or even twice a week) to get the iron level lowered, and then 2-6 times per year after that. That kind of sucks, the last time I attempted to give blood I almost passed out, and I don't think they even got a full pint out of me. Giving that much blood might hinder my bike racing plan... I think I might need to wait until June (after Mt Hood) to do the treatment. I don't think that giving four pints of blood would be a good idea going into a difficult 3 day stage race that ends with a 75 mile road race with 3 major climbs.

This is something that a lot of people have (millions in America) but, most of the people that have it don't know it, and have not even heard of it. Because of the way it mimics other health problems, people are often mis-diagnosed. So if you think you might be at risk, go get your ass tested, it's a simple blood test. At first when the doc said I was positive, I was like oh crap, this sucks. But the fact that I found this out now, before it got bad, probably added 10 or 20 years or more to my life span. Who knows, maybe, once I get my iron levels under control, I might be faster.

More infomation on hemocromatosis here and here.

While your at it check this out for a laugh.

[5/21/2006 edit: turns out only my Brother and I have the disease, and not my dad! Good news for him!]