Hemochromatosis

Home Treatment

There are steps you can take at home to treat hemochromatosis.

• Avoid alcohol. Alcohol increases the amount of iron that your intestines absorb and can contribute to liver damage.
• Do not take extra vitamin C supplements (more than 200 mg a day), which can increase the absorption of iron from your intestines.
• Do not take nutritional supplements or vitamins that contain iron.
• You may not need food restrictions when you have phlebotomy treatment, since the excess iron in your diet is small and easily removed.³ Discuss with your doctor how your diet should change, if at all. If you need to reduce the amount of iron in your diet, eat less red meat and organ meat, which contain a high amount of iron. You may want to avoid iron-fortified food, such as some breads and cereals.
• Drink tea and coffee. These drinks—tea more than coffee—can cause your body to absorb less iron from the food you eat. Drinking these beverages does not replace usual treatment.
• Do not use iron cookware. Food cooked in ironware can absorb some of the iron.
• Avoid uncooked seafood. The bacterium Vibrio vulnificus found in warm coastal waters can contaminate sea life, especially shellfish. This bacterium is especially harmful to people who have hemochromatosis, because it affects how iron is absorbed.³

If you use an injectable chelating medicine to remove iron from your blood, learn to give it to yourself at home. You will have a tube (catheter) inserted under your skin, and you will put the medicine in the tube every night. This tube can stay under the skin for months at a time. Watch for signs of infection around the tube. These signs include increased pain, swelling, tenderness, warmth and redness, discharge of pus, or a fever of 100°F (37.8°C) or higher with no other cause. Keep the entry site of the catheter clean, and take care not to pull on it.

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Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH	Last Updated: April 30, 2007
Medical Review:	Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Brian Leber, MDCM, FRCPC - Hematology
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