Liver levels and exjade

Her ferritin will drop much more quickly with combination. Fears of using kelfer in patients with Hep C are unfounded and can be traced back to the false claims made by a Canadian doctor many years ago. This doctor's actions have cost many patients their lives and her claims about deferiprone should be ignored.

Hi Andy and Poirot, Oh my God Allah, You were right! Her ferritin last month increased to 5150! So we went to her Doctor and she said that We have to increased desferal dose from 2grams to 3grams ( as you exactly said Poirot) and we have been working very hard last month with this dose daily for 10 to 12 hours and we made ferritin test 2 days ago and it was 6140!!!! Another thing that made me so worried that her Liver Function is increasing too!! I am so scarred, she refuses to take Kelfer because of what her Doc said that it increase liver function!! So please explain How come when she takes this high dose of Desferal ferritin goes up? Also liver function goes up? Please help me I need your assist I am so confused!
Waiting for your reply
Hamdan

Hamdan,

Is she also taking Exjade? I think the combination is needed right now, so that the iron removal goes more quickly. I don't get alarmed about upward changes in ferritin when patients are chelating well. There are reasons this happens, and although it may seem alarming, it most often isn't. As iron is removed from the organs and tissue, ferritin levels often rise. This is not meaningful, as there is actually improvement going on in the organs and this is what is most important. The iron bound to ferritin cannot do any harm. It is the free iron in organs, tissue and blood that must be addressed and this is what chelation does. Until a significant impact is made on iron stores, you will not see much reduction in ferritin. I tell patients to look at it as a two year plan, because it takes at least that long to clean the organs. However, once this goal is reached, keeping iron low becomes much easier. I do recommend combination chelation.

Hi Andy, thanks for your quick reply,
My wife use only Desferal 6 vials (3grams) daily for about 2months now, she is afraid to take Exjade or Kelfer because her doctor said so as she has Hepatits C and her doctor said that Kelfer is rising liver functions and last test her ALT was 298 and AST was 196 !! It was less than this 2month ago and since we started on chelating it goes up fast! So why her liver functions goes up very fast when we started on chelating with desferal? Is it because its high dose?! Is that dengrous?! She knows now how hard it is and she is ready to put the pump every night even for 2years! I know that you recommend combination chelating BUT she is scarred to use kelfer or exjade and i don't want to push her to take it SO can desferal only with this high dose (6 vials daily) help her to clean iron from organs and make ferritin level goes down? We can work hard for 2years but please tell me if desferal with this high dose for along time is OK?
Thanks a lot for your great help Andy you are wonderful person
Hamdan

Hamdan,

Hepatitis can cause false ferritin readings because it is an infection, so I would say just be patient with her progress removing iron. However, hepatitis should be dealt with before it becomes a major issue. I highly recommend using an herbal approach before it gets to the point that medical intervention with drugs is necessary. I recommend both milk thistle herb and nigella. Both are very good for the liver and can help keep hepatitis dormant. I have heard very good reports from patients using these herbs and they are very mild and easy on the system, while the drugs used to treat hepatitis are quite harsh. Milk thistle can actually help liver tissue regenerate, in addition to being a blood purifier. This is relevant both with damage from hepatitis and damage from iron.

If the hepatitis is under control and the liver values become normal, Exjade can be considered.

Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply
I am sure it's not false reading and she has high ferrtin because my wife was not chelating well for the past 10 years! She was not aware about The dengrous resulta and Unfortunately I didn't know about it too!
We are going to pay more attention to hepatitis C but I don't know where to get Milk Thistle from here in Egypt? Please can you help?
We will be very patient and my question for you Andy is Dose Desferal with high dose 3grams daily (6 vials) effecting liver function?! Why her ALT & AST goes up fast when she is chelating? Is it because of agressive chelating she started suddenly after long time? Do we have to stop desferal and work on hepatitis? Or we can work on both at the same time? I am so confused and don't know what to do!! I am so worried as we are just focusing on high ferritin and we didn't pay attention to hepatitis, few months ago we went to Liver Doctor and he said that her liver was enlarged but he said she is ok and virus counts are so little and we did fibro scan and he said she is OK too so she told me that might be from Iron overload and she started on chelating now after I read here I understood many things and I am helping her to understand it too But we don't want to make any dengrous mistakes!! Thank you so much Andy and will be waiting for your reply.
Hamdan