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Iron Overload and Hemochromatosis: Self-Care Tips |
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There is much you can do to make sure your life is as normal and
healthy as possible.
- Check-ups: Have the amount of iron in your blood checked regularly.
- Phlebotomy: Make sure to get phlebotomies when you need them.
- Iron pills: Don’t take iron pills, supplements, or multivitamin
supplements that have iron in them. Eating foods that contain iron is
fine.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C increases the amount of iron your body absorbs.
Avoid taking pills with more than 500 mg of vitamin C per day. Eating
foods with vitamin C (such as oranges) is fine.
- Food: Don’t eat raw fish or raw shellfish. Cooking destroys germs
harmful to people with hemochromatosis. People with hemochromatosis are at
greater risk for bacteremia, a bacterial infection of the blood stream.
- Alcohol: If you choose to drink alcohol, drink very little. Women
should have no more than one drink a day. Men should have no more than two
drinks a day. However, if you have liver damage, do not drink any alcohol.
- Exercise: You can exercise as much as you want. The CDC and the
American College of Sports Medicine offers the following physical activity
recommendations:
- Adults should engage in moderate-intensity physical activities
(indicated by some increase in breathing or heart rate) for at least 30
minutes on most preferably all days of the week.
Key Point |
Phlebotomy is the best treatment
for hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis cannot be treated by
changing your diet alone. |
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