Hemachromatosis (in women)....

[trancy221]

Hello people,  

I considered of having hemachromatosis some months ago because I have some signs of this illness

-irregular periods
-days of tiredness
-sometimes muscle pains
-pigment disorders
-kind of hypertrichosis on some areas

I was checked for hemochromatosis (came back negative) but I didn`t do the gene testing, only the blood ferritin levels,which were normal.

But then I read a post of someone who has also purplish fingernails like me and he was tested positive for HFE gene ( I don`t know if homo or heterozygotous...)

And I also found something very interesting on the web, which was about women and hemochromatosis.

Hemochromatosis shows its bigger problems often very late in women, because of iron loss in menstrual bleedings.

And the prevalence of this illness is not very rare, but 0,5 to 1,5 percent of the population and gene carriers are also more common.

I ám considering of doing a genetic testing on HFE...

And probably some of you find themselves in some or many symptoms of hemochromatosis too.
This disorder can mimic very other conditions from arthritis and gout to irritable bowel syndrome.

Nice greets

trancy  

[apricotgreene]

Hey Trancy,

You said you have some pigment disorder.  Could you elaborate on that?

Thanks!

-  Amy

[trancy221]

Hello apricotgreene   

Yes I think it is kind of a mild pigment disorder.
Since I was a child I had a bit irregular pigmented face (bit darker forehead,cheeks often very reddish) but it was not an extreme thing.

In summer two years ago I developed a kind of solar urticaria (mainly on arms,hands and feet) after lying in the sun for a longer time.
These are tiny itching and a bit burning reddish papules but luckily not inflammated.
They usually last for some days but after summers I noticed that there are some brownish and whitish patches,mainly on areas where the papules often came out.
But luckily they are mainly on feet and arms and not that big (with one exception) but I have a little irregular pigmentation in general.

My grandfather has diabetes type 2,my father gout and one relative had problems with the liver enzyme values for some period of time, because of something in the workplaces , so I think about hemochromatosis (the disorder often gets undiagnosed in milder cases and in women),but diabetes type 2,gout,arthritis and liver problems often go hand in hand with heightened iron levels.

Hemochromatosis shows also skin changes in some cases,thats with early or mild stages too.

Merry Christmas to you 

Yours trancy