You must have valid membership to see dates and contact information.

Login Here

About National Hemochromatosis Screening & Awareness Month

"National Hemochromatosis Screening & Awareness Month is sponsored by the American Hemochromatosis Society (AHS) each July. Founded in 1998 by Josephine Bogie Thomas, who succumb to complications from the disease in 1999, AHS seeks to raise awareness and encourage people to get tested for Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), also known as iron overload disease, iron storage disease, or genetic iron poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list HH as the most common genetic disease in American. One in 8 people, or 33 million Americans are carriers of the disease and most don’t know it. Mutations of the disease can manifest as full blown HH and it can affect anyone, men, women and children at any stage of life. affect men, women and children at any age.
Common symptoms and risk factors (either for yourself or family history) include :

• Arthritis
• Joint pain/Replacement
• Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
• Anemia (low hematocrit/low hemoglobin)
• Hypothyroidism (low thyroid function)
• Impotence/ED/Early menopause / Irregular periods
• Infertility /hysterectomy/have never had children
• Diabetes mellitus /High blood sugar
• Darkening, greying, or ""tanning"" of the skin without exposure to the sun
• Heart Disease/Heart Attack
• Stroke
• Irregular heartbeat
• Bypass surgery
• Hair loss/Hair thinning
• Unexplained Weight loss
• Set off airport metal detectors for no apparent reason
• Ancestry of Celtic (Irish/Scottish/Welsh) British/Scandanavian/Northern European origin
• Liver disease/hepatitis/cirrhosis/primary liver cancer/elevated liver enzymes
• Enlarged liver/yellow skin & yellow eyes (jaundice)
• Dark urine/pale or white stool
• Red palms of the hands/Abdominal pain
• Liver and/or heart transplant or need for liver or heart transplant/On transplant waiting list

Find out if you’re at risk by requesting the following HH blood tests at your next medical check-up:
Serum Iron
Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC)
Serum Ferritin.
If discovered early, the treatment is simple: bloodletting identical to a blood donation."

Videos

Images

Downloads