An overload of iron damages liver, heart and joints

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Can you help me find the answer to a dangerous health condition my daughter has? She is 52 years old and has high levels of iron in her system. She was told nothing can be done to lower the levels. It will attack her organs and cause her death. I've never heard of such a thing. Do you have any answers? -- E.O.

ANSWER: From the information in your letter, I would say your daughter has hemochromatosis (HE-moe- CROW-muh-TOE-siss). Normally our digestive tracts absorb only the amount of iron we need. Hemochromatosis is an inherited condition where the digestive tract has lost its control over iron. Too much gets into the body.

Excess iron deposits in the liver and eventually leads to liver cirrhosis. It infiltrates the heart and brings about heart failure. In the pancreas, it stops the production of insulin and gives rise to diabetes. In the joints, it causes arthritis. It interferes with the production of male and female hormones. Deposited in the skin, it turns skin color slate gray to a bronze tinge.

All of this is preventable if the illness is discovered in time. Treatment is simple -- the periodic removal of blood. Blood is the body's iron storehouse.

The diagnosis is made in a number of ways. There is a test for the hemochromatosis gene. The blood iron levels can be measured. Sometimes a small piece of liver is removed with a needle for microscopic examination.

If this is her diagnosis, she can be treated. Her children need to be examined. Although hemochromatosis doesn't have a familiar ring to most ears, it is a common genetic disorder.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have in-laws who believe that every ailment they have is caused by the weather -- it's too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy. Both are in their late 60s and are overweight. They have frequent headaches, knee pain, leg swelling and more. They will not go to a doctor because they claim weather causes all these problems. I know my inlaws read your column, so perhaps you can clarify the effect weather has on our bodies. -- L.P.

ANSWER: Weather definitely affects the body, but your inlaws are a bit over the top in blaming it for all humankind's ills.

People with arthritis can often detect changes in barometric pressure via increased joint pain.

Extreme heat leads to heatstroke and extreme cold leads to frostbite and worse, but, aside from those examples, I can't think of any actual weathercaused illness. Cold weather doesn't cause colds. Barometric changes don't cause arthritis. If people have instances of proven weather-caused illness, let me know what they are.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall. com. 2006 North America Syndicate Inc. All Rights Reserved