What is the best test for diagnosing hemachromatosis?

Question

What is the best test for diagnosing hemachromatosis?

Answer 1

Blood letting has been thought of as a outdated medical technique but one way to know if you have hemachromatosis is if you feel better after having given blood. Don't try to do this on your own! There is an overload of iron in your system and red blood cells carry iron, so by letting them out you are alleviating some of your iron and thus many people with the disease feel better. You could also get your iron levels tested to see if they are high. It is thought that it could have derived as an evolutionary advantageous trait from the times of the plague. It is now a serious disease that needs to be addressed immediately.  

Answer 2

The best initial screening test is ferritin. Ferritin is the way your body stores iron, so someone with haemochromatosis will have high levels. But there are other reasons for high levels, so someone with high ferritin levels would then proceed to a diagnostic test, which usually involves taking a blood sample to look for a mutation in a gene called HFE (HFE mutations are what causes haemochromatosis). By the way I'm from the UK hence I spell 'haem' correctly ;-)