Guest (Health Topic) Blogger: Hemochromatosis Or Melasma?? How One Patient Obtained A Proper Diagnosis For Her Condition.

Please welcome my guest blogger Tracee from Blog Fabulous. Tracee is a journalist, author, and blogger who has a condition called hemochromatosis.

Recently I asked for guest blogger submissions. I had explained that the post didn't necessarily need to be about endometriosis or even an endometriosis-related illness but that it did need to be about a health topic.

Tracee submitted an idea for a post on hemochromatosis and melasma. These two conditions are often confused for one another and that is problematic since undiagnosed hemochromatosis can be fatal.

Fortunately, Tracee has now been properly diagnosed. The purpose of this post is to generate awareness about these two conditions that can be confused for one another.

Rather than re-invent the wheel attempting to paraphrase Tracee's great explanation of her experience or have her re-write it to be posted here, I'm going to refer readers here to Tracee's thorough blog post for more details about how she was misdiagnosed with melasma and later got a proper diagnosis of hemochromatosis. Her article gives details about the two conditions and it explains in more detail the importance of getting a proper diagnosis.

Apparently there must be many patients out there who have symptoms that present in a manner similar to Tracee's since her blog got 517 comments to her initial story on melasma! (Her melasma article is linked within her newer story that explains how she discovered that she really has hemochromatosis).

Fortunately Tracee now has the proper diagnosis for her condition, hemochromatosis, but I wonder how many women are misdiagnosed with melasma when they really have hemochromatosis?

Here is Tracee's post that followed her proper diagnosis of hemochromatosis: Miracle Skin - A Perception Shift.

She previously had written about melasma in: Can A Leopard Change Her Spots

If posting a reference to Tracee's posts on these conditions by directing readers to Tracee's firsthand experience as described on her blog can reach even one person out there who has been diagnosed/misdiagnosed with either melasma or hemochromatosis then I think it is well worth sharing her posts to create awareness.

As always, please consult your health care provider to obtain a proper diagnosis of your condition and to ascertain the appropriate treatment options available to you.

Thank you to Tracee for informing us about hemochromatosis and melasma! Hopefully getting this information more widely disseminated will result in informing patients so that they can ask their health care professionals the questions that will help verify they have been properly diagnosed and are receiving the appropriate treatment. By advocating for herself, Tracee was able to obtain the correct diagnosis that has enabled her to get appropriate treatment.

As many endometriosis patients are only too aware, the importance of patients advocating for themselves cannot be underestimated.

According to National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC), untreated hemochromatosis can lead to liver, heart, and pancreas failure.

This article was posted by Jeanne via "Jeanne's Endo Blog" at www.endendoat.blogspot.com.