G'day heric,

(Pace Jerry Rasmussen - I know this is now 'Thread Avalanche' ... )

I missed reading your post, while rambling on about donkeys / asses / a**es.

Haemochromatosis hasm become of interest to me (apart from the fact that modern attention was drawn to it after an Australian [female] researcher showed that the prevailing medical cliché ... that it was a disease only found in middle-aged, overweight alchoholics was dead wrong - that it was genetic ... and occurred in many woman ... but was shoved aside as just "women's problems" ... and some died through that misdiagnosis).

I suspected I had the problem and, because I have regular blood tests as part of monitoring mild Type 2 diabetes, I asked for the tests to note the AST (SGTP) levels. My next test didn't indicate anything awry there ... but my most recent test got a query from the doc ... for an elevated AST (SGTP) ... and she asked if I was overdrinking (No! - 2 "standard drinks' per day) I must remind her of my earlier query.

The re-emergence of this may be due to the fact that, after 40 years of regular blood donation, I have been trying to cultivate some antibodies to Rh factor for collection and use in the "Anti-D" program for Rh-ve mothers having Rh+ve babies. This means that I haven't given whole blood (red cells) for a year or so ... and probably means I need to go back to whole blood donation - instead of slotting into the plasmaphoresis program now I have not brewed up enough (... any! ...) antibodies for the Anti-D program!

Regards,

Bob Bolton