Ask a public-health/nutrition student

[Athene]

What's wrong? I thought that therapeutic phlebotomy is the most common treatment for iron overload.

Nope. Mainly in hereditary hemochromatosis and then there are complications/co-morbidity to consider. Why would you bleed someone out that you gave a blood transfusion to? Standard is chelation therapy.

Edited my first post to you with chelation in mind, but you were already composing your response. I'm still getting phlebotomy as the standard treatment in my searches, but I am seeing a lean towards oral chelation therapy in patients with normal ferritin levels.

[brewer]

Nope. Mainly in hereditary hemochromatosis and then there are complications/co-morbidity to consider. Why would you bleed someone out that you gave a blood transfusion to? Standard is chelation therapy.

Edited my first post to you with chelation in mind, but you were already composing your response. I'm still getting phlebotomy as the standard treatment in my searches, but I am seeing a lean towards oral chelation therapy in patients with normal ferritin levels.

Getting bled for what? Don't have to answer, that's up to you. Want to keep it private, PM me.

[Athene]

Edited my first post to you with chelation in mind, but you were already composing your response. I'm still getting phlebotomy as the standard treatment in my searches, but I am seeing a lean towards oral chelation therapy in patients with normal ferritin levels.

Getting bled for what? Don't have to answer, that's up to you. Want to keep it private, PM me.

Hehe. That's how rumors get started! I meant in my searches as in in my internet searches on treatments for hemochromatosis. I don't have it. 

I have recurring iron deficiency anemia from chronic GI bleeding.

[brewer]

Getting bled for what? Don't have to answer, that's up to you. Want to keep it private, PM me.

Hehe. That's how rumors get started! I meant in my searches as in in my internet searches on treatments for hemochromatosis. I don't have it. 

I have recurring iron deficiency anemia from chronic GI bleeding.

Again don't have to answer. Source/etiology of the GI bleed?

[Athene]

Hehe. That's how rumors get started! I meant in my searches as in in my internet searches on treatments for hemochromatosis. I don't have it. 

I have recurring iron deficiency anemia from chronic GI bleeding.

Again don't have to answer. Source/etiology of the GI bleed?

I think I'll pass on that for now. It's not polyps, cancer, or anything terminal though.

[Aractus]

You're kidding right? You need to look at the treatment for hemochromatosis and transfusion overload.

Yeah OK, not the only way - but it's preferred way. The body doesn't have a way to routinely remove iron, the only way it knows how to maintain iron levels is through absorption.

I think I'll pass on that for now. It's not polyps, cancer, or anything terminal though.

Try finding iron-fortified grains, I think that'd be one of the easiest ways to get more iron without changing your diet at all. I just looked up NUTTAB, the averages for Australian bread are 1.5mg/100g iron in white bread, 2.1mg/100g in wholemeal bread, and 7mg in iron-fortified white bread (it didn't give the amount for iron-fortified wholemeal), and if it's fortified you should find the iron level listed in the nutrition label.

[Athene]

Thanks for that. I'll been increasing my Vitamin C as well, for better absorption. 

It's been a bit of a struggle to maintain my blood levels at even low-norm levels and mineral tablets actually cause me to experience pretty severe stomach pain.

[Dystopia]

Another question:

When it comes to drugs, what really causes addiction? I've heard people talk about physical V. psychological addiction - How does this work? Would you say that it is possible to consume ANY drug for recreational purposes without getting addicted? Why do some people become addicted easily, while others manage to try everything from heroin to acids, LSD and other drugs and don't get hooked? What about behaviors other than drugs that get people addicted - Like playing videogames, gambling, having sex or masturbation/porn?

[LadyForCamus]

Hello, Aractus!!!

I am a Registered Dietitian! It is SO nice to meet not only a fellow Atheist, but fellow nutrition professional as well. Are you working toward your RD? Thank you for clarifying the Gluten issue for others. It is one of my biggest pet peeves!

[Aractus]

At the moment no, but I might consider it as I get to the end of next year. I actually enjoy learning about public health more than nutrition, but feel free to chime in you're actually qualified to give diet advice and I'm not (not that that ever stops anyone, and that's my pet peeve).

When it comes to drugs, what really causes addiction? I've heard people talk about physical V. psychological addiction - How does this work?

Probably it depends on the drug. There's actually addiction and dependence: and dependence is where a person has become physically dependant on the drug, as you might know this is a problem with some pharmaceuticals.

Would you say that it is possible to consume ANY drug for recreational purposes without getting addicted?

Would I say that categorically? No I wouldn't. If people are careful and take recreational drugs only occasionally then I would think the risk of addiction is low, but, some people claim that Meth is so addictive that a person can become addicted after taking it just once.

Why do some people become addicted easily, while others manage to try everything from heroin to acids, LSD and other drugs and don't get hooked? What about behaviors other than drugs that get people addicted - Like playing videogames, gambling, having sex or masturbation/porn?

Like any disease/illness/physical or mental health conditions, some people are more at-risk than others. If a person suffers one addiction already, that itself is a strong risk factor for the person becoming addicted to something else. People often have multiple addictions.

Behaviourally it's the Skinner-box (operant conditioning) that causes some people to become addicted to certain things (like gambling). Although it should be noted that if a drug is addictive for other reasons, then I imagine (without looking too into it) that the operant conditioning will work in parallel to whatever else it is in the brain that causes people to become addicted. You might want to view this documentary, it's quite good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxaHPD6vTo

Not that documentaries are a reliable source of health information (or any information for that matter), but I enjoyed how they talked about the history of pokies, and a bit about how they're designed, and why people become addicted. They're blatantly designed to be addictive, and just about anyone qualified in the field of psychology could tell you that.

Same thing with obesity really, food manufactures have designed foods that people can over-consume, despite their hunger hormones being released to tell them to stop eating at a certain point.