Hello

I am a 52 year old male from Canada. last month I had a kidney stone and not knowing what it was I went to emergency. The blood tests revealed I had Alfa thalassemia trait. Since then I saw 2 family doctors and also learned through an ultrasound that I have fatty liver. My spleen was borderline enlarged during the kidney stone attack but now it is normal. My Liver ensymes are good except for my billirubin which is high. Also my Iron looks normal but my ferritin is a bit high at 695. I was reading that fatty liver can raise your ferritin levels. I will lose 20 or 30 pounds in order to heal my liver.
  I always had aches and pains and headaches and general mild flu like symptoms or feeling hung over with out the alcohol. I always thought my problems were due to my work ( gardener). Last year I started taking Curcurmin active by AOR and my problems improved by 60% to 70 %. Last night I didnt take curcurmin and my symptoms came back today.
   I started a low oxalate diet to prevent future kidney stones and I try to eat foods that don't trigger my self diagnosed IBS. My doctor says Thalassemia trait is nothing so don't worry, but now I realize that this may not be true. Thank you for this forum. Hopefully I will learn a lot here.

Cam

Hi Cam,

Thal minors have a higher than normal turnover of red blood cells, RBC's due to overactive bone marrow and production of ineffective RBC's, and this causes a high bilirubin level as the RBC's break down. This can lead to gallstones. Your bilirubin will most likely always be high, as it is in alpha and beta thal minor. It may be reduced with supplementing certain nutrients, like folate, B complex, natural vitamin E and magnesium, as they help build and protect RBC's, but the bilirubin will remain higher than normal. Diet has a lot to do with kidney stones, as you are aware. Make sure you're staying well hydrated. Curcumin is fantastic. I've replaced ibuprofen with turmeric and black pepper capsules for aches and pains and have been very happy with the results. It's also a great antioxidant, which is also a help maintaining healthy RBC's. This is something you can safely take daily.

Thalassemia is the cause of high bilirubin and many thal minors experience a variety of symptoms, and the symptoms can become more bothersome with age. Diet and nutrition are very important to the quality of life of thal minors. The overactive bone marrow and premature breakdown of RBC's cause a depletion of many nutrients. Doctors overlook this fact and overlook the importance of replacing these nutrients. As you've seen with curcumin, you can make a noticeable difference by helping yourself. We have an entire board dedicated to this topic because it is so important. You can find many ideas and recommendations for helping yourself there.

Thanks Andy I will go to my family doctor and ask him for some vitamin tests. I will show him some print outs from this forum. I have been taking Curcurmin Active for a year now. I always take it before bed cause for some reason it knocks me out with no side effects.I love the stuff. Like you, I took ibuprofen and I took it to often, I wonder if it is partly responsible for my fatty liver.I am also over weight and I drank a lot of cola because of my work. I only take about 4 Ibuprophen tablets a month now if I have a bad headache.
    My challenge is to find a diet that conciders fatty liver, low oxalate( No spinach and black pepper for me) IBS and now Alpha Thal Trait. I think I am doing good with the diet and because of this board I think I can be healthy with Thal trait. Most of my life I knew that something was not quite right, I always assumed it was a life of hard physical work. It is kind of a relief to put a label on it. I find it strange to now be a member of the Thalassemia community. A month ago I had never even heard of thalessemia.  In the last few years, going to work has been a chore but now that I know what I am dealing with, work will be a lot easier. Thanks again

Cam