why can’t people with anemia (not enough iron in blood) get blood transfers from donors who have hemochromatosis (too much iron in blood)?
In: Biology
I was diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) at the beginning of the year and have had 12 phlebotomies since then. I’m finding it to be one of the most confusing ailments I’ve come across.
The Red Cross fact is interesting and there must be some difference between them and the blood bank that does my phlebotomies. I was told by an experienced worker that they do them for free with the understanding that they get to use the blood of it meets their other criteria. That must mean there are enough situations where that happens to make it with while. It also must mean that having HH doesn’t automatically exclusive my blood. This is backed by the fact that the release I sign changes after they find out my hemoglobin is too low.
This leads me to the realization that iron in the blood isn’t the same as hemoglobin levels since mine have never been high enough to donate even though my ferritin levels started literally off the chart. How does this work? Apparently there’s something besides those iron levels that cause my hemoglobin to be low, even though my ferritin levels are high.
Eli why couldn’t the person who has low iron problem eat more food with iron? I mean your body can only absorb nutrients one way
Paradoxically, most of us with hemochromatosis can’t donate the blood we need to get pumped out of us every few months to keep our iron in check. My doc explained, even though our blood is very needed and particularly beneficial, there’s really bureaucratic rules that govern donations, so technically hemochromatosis is considered a blood disorder and a disqualifying condition just because it fits under that umbrella. My doc did mention as an aside that if I happen to not mention it, my blood would definitely help people.
Saw your post earlier and literally just got a real life answer for you.
A friend has hemochromatosis and does “therapeutic blood donation” to manage her levels, so you may be getting it if you require blood transfusions.
Because anemia is not only ‘not enough iron’, it is a category of conditions that prevent you from getting oxygen where you need it. Oxygen is transported by blood, which requires hemoglobin which involves iron, but there are other types of anemia than just ones that deal with hemoglobin. For example, megaloblastic anemia is where your cells are abnormally large due to a deficiency in B12 or Folic Acid, while Non-Megaloblastic anemia are those that involve impaired DNA synthesis of one or more important substances in the body. If the body is not making what it needs, sometimes it’s not enough to just put good stuff in and hope for the best. Bone marrow transplants are sometimes the treatment of choice for serious Anemia because it aims to fix the root of the problem, because bone marrow is a major source for all cells. Blood transfusion is a temporary solution that doesn’t always work.
TL;DR: Anemia is not as simple as ‘low iron: Put more iron in’, there are a myriad of other factors involved. You can put iron in, but the actual problem that caused the issue needs to be resolved.
Source: Medical Lab Technologist/Biology B.S.
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