Liver BX for Hemocromotosis

[Pauly Boy]

Hello all my comrades! It's been a while since I've been here and thought of y'all today. I had an ultrasound liver BX today to determine condition of liver but more importantly to see if I have the marker for an illness called hemocrotosis. It is a condition where your body isn't able to throw off iron in the body. I found out that I might have it while doing tx for type 2b HCV. While on tx my hemo dumped and I went on procrit and some of the labs they did showed my body having high levels of iron and ferritin. We decided to wait till I finished tx to see if I truely have the illness. Anyone here have any experience or knowledge about this condition. Oh, the bx was a snap, in fact the worst part of it was when they numbed me up: a little pressure and nothing else. Boy the procedure must have been a ***** prior to cat scans and ultrasounds. I notice that the MB has been "upgraded"? kinda weird... oh well, keep killin' those little critters!!! Pauly

[aiuta]

Good to see you post.  It's been a while and I missed your "keep killin those critters" line.  You noticed they "upgraded" the site; not sure that that necessarily means improved it.  Take care and I wish you the best with your bx results and the possible hemocromotosis.  Aiuta

[sallyo]

Sorry that I do not know anything about the illness you describe but curious to know how you found out about it.  May I ask if you were symptomatic?  What caused your doctors to even test for or consider this?

[Pauly Boy]

Thanx aiuta, I hope your tx is going well and success will follow. The overall feeling of the board seems to have changed, or is that just me, because I haven't been here lately? Best regards to you...
Sallyo, the way I discovered the possible presence of this illness was by accident. At about week 4-5 I became very fatigued and had problems walking without getting exhausted. So, we did some labs and made some discoveries: 1- My hemoglobin dumped down under 10 and I needed procrit to elevate my red blood cell count and 2- that I my body had extremely high iron and ferritin levels. That is one of the symptoms of hemocromotosis but, in order to determine if I had the illness that another specific test had to be done to make that determination. We'll see in aweek or two. Thankfully, tx for this is the removal of blood until the iron levels are again within range. I joked with my doc and asked if he still removed blood by using leaches to suck the blood out of me!!! We had a good laugh. I wish you the best with your tx. Keep killin' those little critters!      Pauly

[honey11]

Hey Pauly!  Yes I remember you and good to see you.  Have you had your ferritin tested now your are through with tx.  My husbands was high before starting tx and during tx went down a little but after he stopped tx and reached SVR,,,,took another test and it is now totally normal.  He was also tested for hemochromosis,,,Hope this is the case for you also!