|
Iron overload
Hi Francine,
It is very difficult to know if your mother's elevated liver tests depend on the increased ferritin level or an adverse effect of Exjade. You know the liver has very great capacity - we manage well with 1/3 of the liver, so elevated liver tests are really not dangerous.
As Marlene wrote a ferritin level of 4000 is not very high and will probably not give any symptoms except eventually elevated liver tests. The first symptom of high ferritin is often symptoms from the heart and that kind of symptoms can take years to develope.
I looked at a lot of reports about iron overload from the big conference ASH 2008 and wellknown clinics had patients with a ferritin value of 22 000.
Your mother perhaps has svollen legs because of heart problems that have nothing to do with iron overload - of cause it is important that she takes Lasix, that ske obviously needs.
Desferal under the skin is quite difficult to take during long time - I get it through a port-a-cath (a small device of titanium) inplanted on my chest. I get my transfusions through the port too without any complications since Aug 2007.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
70 yo, dx MDS Interm-1 May 2006, transfusion dependent, Desferal and Ferriprox (not approved in the US) for iron overload, Neupogen 2 injections/week for low white blood cells, asymptomatic
|