A presentation meant to help educate the public about the risks, symptoms and treatment of hemochromatosis will be held at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre on Oct. 1.
Hereditary hemochromatosis is a disorder that causes the body to absorb two to three times the normal amount of iron, according to a fact sheet from the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society (CHS).
The condition can lead to excess iron being built up in vital organs, joints or tissues which can spark off a number of conditions, including fatal ones. People should get educated about it because it's a very common disease, said Tara Jacques of Innisfail. Jacques' husband Paul was diagnosed a few years ago after he got stuck with a needle from a known hepatitis C carrier and had to go through tests. He ended up with a hemochromatosis diagnosis instead.
“It's even more common to be a carrier,” Jacques said. One in nine people, mostly of northern European descent, are carriers and one in 300 are estimated to have the two copies of the genes that put them at risk for the overload, according to statistics provided by the CHS.
Bob Rogers, the executive director of the CHS will be doing the information presentation which starts at 7 p.m.
Jacques said she and her husband will be at the presentation. She will be heading up a new chapter of the CHS for Central Alberta based out of Innisfail.
She said a lot of people go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because the symptoms are “so generic or vague.”
Treatment for hemochromatosis is often drawing blood, Jacques said, though other conditions caused by the iron buildup have to be treated separately. Those conditions can include things like arthritis, diabetes, liver cirrhosis and more.
Attending an information session like the one at the library/learning centre helps arm people, she said.
“(General practitioners) are not always aware,” she said, noting the genetic link was only discovered in 1996.
Though her husband still suffers from some of the symptoms, his diagnosis led to the condition being caught in his brother and for her children to be recognized as carriers of the gene, she said.
