Hi @AnneN ,
My iron overload is due to eating too much iron (i.e. my iron absorption rate was higher than my elimination rate). My 23andMe test came back showing I do not have the genes that include Hemochromatosis (it is only $200 and gives you this information plus a lot more important health related information). Anyone can take that test without a doctor’s approval (as far as I know).
You should separate out the Hemochromatosis possibility immediately – if your iron levels did not rise as fast or dipped a little in two months – maybe you doctor will want to skip the test? That’s not good – you want to know this information. I am wondering why the doctor did not ask for the test immediately for a high risk individual with a recent jump in these levels?
Women have special worries about this – they have a great advantage in that they can get rid of blood every month (people with Hemochromatosis usually give blood often for the same iron reducing effects). Women’s vitamins have extra iron in them to counteract this but a pre-menopausal woman with jumps in their iron numbers means that post-menopausal – could be in real trouble (whether due to Hemochromatosis or simply a slower iron elimination rate vs. absorption rate).
Think also about whether Carnivore (or some new exhaustive exercise routine) has greatly reduced or eliminated your “special time” output. That might increase your iron quickly. Or, the opposite – if that output has increased – it would be more alarming that your iron input is still overloading it.
You can research on Google but here are some things to dig into:
- Learn the difference between heme and non-heme iron
- Be careful about “good food” vs. “bad food” lists – sometimes searches come up with sites that are talking about iron deficiency (so you get the exact opposite answer - so it seems confusing and you want to give up - but don’t)
- Eggs are good
- Chicken and pork are lower in iron that beef
- Calcium (milk and cheese) with a red meat meal with slow absorption (there are other things that will also)
In this primer (link below) they point out that people with normal iron absorption get about 20 to 25 percent of the heme iron and people with Hemochromatosis get about 80 to 100 percent. So it seems you can mimic Hemochromatosis with an all red meat diet - which would be bad if your elimination rate happened to be low.
Nose-to-tail Carnivore of a variety of animals vs. just always modern engineered beef muscle meat might be the answer here if you want to stay Carnivore.
! Because I’m all out of likes again at 10:15 am.