While one drug has been developed with marginal success, the most effective treatment for hemochromatosis is phlebotomy, or letting of blood, since iron is transported to the organs through the blood. They say it feels like their bodies are actually lightening up. A doctor might remove a pint of blood weekly for the first year or so of treatment, but a patient's condition eventually can be maintained with less frequent treatments. Still, every time Robbie gets sick, I feel this awful fear that it's the hemochromatosis. Whether doctors should regularly draw blood from children is controversial, Block says.
Some physicians believe it inhibits growth.
How much blood is drawn depends upon body mass and how rapidly the child is accumulating iron. Her mother was diagnosed 14 years ago after visiting seven doctors. When I complained about pain in my joints, they told me it was arthritis. They prescribed a walker and suggested I get an artificial hip. A blood test showed abnormal liver enzymes.