Posted by River1924 on March 11, 2006, at 1:24:38
Hi, this is a public service posting.
I have EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness.) For me, I just considered it a symptom of my atypical depression. It improved a great deal, however, after I was tested and treated for a fairly common genetic disorder called hemochromatosis. One in 200 have the genes necessary but, for reasons unknown at this time, only one in 1000 develop a problem that needs treatment.
One doesn't need the genetic test. There are two blood test you need but an iron level (which women get sometimes) isn't useful. In some instances, one may test anemic. With hemochromatosis, the body tends to absord too much iron and stores it as a protein called ferritin. The body can not excrete iron (also known as ferritin) so it will builds up in the blood, liver, endocrine glands, etc.
If anyone reading has a lot of fatigue, or has odd liver enzyme or hormone levels, diabetes, or arthritic/gout symptoms, heart arrythmia, libido probs or any number of other things including bronze skin- check out http://www.ironoverload.org/anemia.htm or http://www.irondisorders.org/
It is very unlikely you have been tested and it only takes two simple blood tests: ferritin levels (not iron levels) and another called TSat%.
Hope this helps someone or someone you know. River.
poster:River1924
thread:618685
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060310/msgs/618685.html