Too Much Iron: Hemochromatosis Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe haemochromatosis, the inherited condition in which the body takes in and stores too much iron. Many found out by chance: an insurance blood test, a call from the blood bank, a sister ringing on a Sunday evening, a mother's liver failing in the same week. Others spent years treated for something else, including type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, depression and menopause, and several were told they had the wrong background for it, as a man of Indian heritage in Leicester, a Hispanic man in Tucson and a Black football coach in Atlanta describe. The writers include a plumber embarrassed to raise the bedroom side, a cyclist and a marathon runner whose times slipped, a Wisconsin farmer, a woman in Valencia worried about her family's dishes and a mother pregnant during treatment. Places run from Cork to Durban and Oslo to a farm in Alberta three hours from treatment. They describe regular blood removal, a machine that takes only red cells, veins that hide, giving up supplements and drink, bills, and testing children. Not every outcome is easy: some learned of cirrhosis or heart rhythm trouble late, one man lives with joint pain despite good numbers, a woman was seriously ill after eating raw oysters, and one high reading turned out not to be haemochromatosis at all.

Who it's for

For anyone with a high ferritin result, a new haemochromatosis diagnosis or a relative who has just been told, and for people years into treatment who want company in the chair.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 231 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.