If individuals with hereditary hemochromatosis have diabetes, they are treated with insulin. Most people with hemochromatosis are treated with blood drawing, a process called phlebotomy that is similar to giving blood donations. Blood may be drawn once or twice a week during the process of trying to decrease the iron in the blood. This treatment will go on until there is a normal amount of iron in the blood. This process usually takes about two to three years.
If the serum ferritin level becomes normal, after the iron level decreases, a patient will usually stay on a continuing schedule of three or four phlebotomy sessions a year. Doctors check the serum ferritin levels yearly to monitor iron build up. This treatment usually takes place for the rest of the patient’s life.
Most of the money needed for the testing of genetics is being spent on the testing of cancer, so there is very little information.
"If we all did the things we were capable of, we would astound ourselves."
-Thomas Edison
