Just told from loved one of theyre Polycythemia vera.....?

[Laroo]

What is this......AND PLEASE IN TERMS I CAN UNDERSTAND.  Is he going to die on me within 10/15 years?  What can I do?  Where can I look for answers to help him?  I had bad dreams about him around Chrismas & for some reason I constantly felt I needed to get ahold of him.
NOW I find this out....?  I feel there might be some reason I need to look over everything.

[Nancy410]

I also have polycythemia.  There are 2 types, polycythemia vera or secondary polycythemia.  Make sure to find out what type you have.  If it is secondary, as is mine, the doctor needs to find the first cause.  Mine is from a tumor hiding in my body somewhere...getting MRi's and CT scans to find out where but, smoking is the first thing that must stop as it makes everything much worse.  I also have emphysema but its not bad enough yet to be causing the polycythemia.  Wish there was more info about this...just thought I had menopause..lol

[stryped]

Polycythemia is an over production of red blood cells. My grandfather had it in the 60's. It is not cancer. The treatment then was simply giving blood often, as this decreases the number of blood cells. I am not sure now what it is. I think depending on the severity they can do radiation. I think it is somethign you can live with for a long time but please check with a doctor.