Is Hemochromatosis really the #1 genitic disorder?

Why is it when people are diagnosed with other major problems the doctors don't check for hemochromatosis first to see if it is the cause of things like liver, kidney, heart, thyroid diseases and fibromyaliga? A simple old fashioned bleed could fix it.

It use to be 100%fatal without treatment. A very high percentage of people carry the gene for it. I looked on the American Hemochromatosis site to find out.

The probable reason they don't check for it is that it is inherited. so if your parents don't have it either should you. also it occurs almost exclusively in males. it also doesn't usually cause any problems until middle age., it is not the #1 genetic disorder.

Umm....sawgirl that might be the most ignorant posting I've ever seen. You obviously do not understand genetic inheritance or know anything about the disorder itself. Report It

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that your parents can not present (phenotypically) with the disorder, but still be a carrier. If both parents are carriers then they can have a child who has the disorder. Report It

Now, as to occurring almost exclusively in males, this is yet another gross misunderstanding of genetics. Report It

As I said the disorder is autosomally inherited and is not sex-linked....men and women are just as likely to inherit the disorder and develop symptoms and in fact the prevalence is nearly equivalent for both sexes Report It

(I believe by chance the prevalence is actually just a bit higher for women in the U.S., even though this is an estimate...obviously only a sample of the U.S. population has actually been screened for the disorder. Report It

Finally, with a penetrance of actual disease symptoms for about 1 in 400 Americans, it is by far the #1 (most common) genetic disorder in the US. Report It

Please, next time you speak...don't do it out of your a$$. Don't profess to be an expert on the subject when you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.... Report It

As for an answer to the originally posed question. Report It

General population screening is not performed because the penetrance of disease symptoms is only about 50% for homozygotes for the disorder, meaning screening will provide a false positive diagnosis for half of the individuals and open them to insurance discrimination, etc. Report It

However, any doctor who sees any of the above symptoms you mentioned should consider hemochromatosis as a possibility...and consider testing ferritin, iron saturation, etc...if he or she doesn't, then he or she is not doing his or her job. Report It