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By
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Last month I saw yet another patient with hepatitis C who
was not diagnosed properly. She is a 33-year-old woman who
had a history of drug abuse in the past and received a diagnosis
of hepatitis C that was believed to be due to her drug abuse
history. What the specialists failed to realize was that this
woman's father died from liver failure.
The important point that all her previous physicians failed
to recognize was that many patients with hepatitis C have
very high levels of iron. In this woman's case, when we screened
her for high iron levels her ferritin level was 1150 (normal
is 20 to 50). She had the highest level of elevated iron levels
we ever measured. The iron was putting a severe oxidative
stress on her system and damaged her immune system sufficiently
for her to contract hepatitis C.
I have seen a fair number of patients like this now and I
have never seen any of them have blood tests done to screen
for elevated iron. This is most peculiar since hemochromatosis
is the most common genetic disease.
If you know anyone with hepatitis C you could literally save
their life by forwarding them the article I wrote about iron
and hepatitis C in April.
Mercola.com
April 2, 2003
Related Articles:
Is it Hepatitis C or Iron
Toxicity?
How to Diagnose
Iron Overload
Women Can Have Too Much
Iron
Iron Can Have Devastating
Effects on Your Health
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