This is the same amount that is taken when a person donates blood. Often you can do this at a blood bank or outpatient clinic, and the blood can be donated to hospitals for transfusions. After every few phlebotomies, doctors will test the blood and will continue to take blood until iron levels return to normal. Once these levels are reduced, a person with hemochromatosis will begin life-long maintenance therapy, giving a pint of blood every one to four months. There are special hemochromatosis centers that help treat the disease.
Treatment can stop the advancement of early liver disease, for example.
Since the disease is genetic, there are no specific behaviors that will help prevent hemochromatosis, although you can cut back on iron intake. For example, if you believe you are at risk or already have hemochromatosis, talk to your doctor about the implications of taking multivitamins with iron or iron supplements, or eating certain kinds of foods that may exacerbate the problem. If you think you are at risk, you can get screened to see if you carry the gene or have the disease. Brothers or sisters of people with hemochromatosis should have their blood tested to see if they have the disease. Parents, children or other close relatives may also consider testing.