Investigation of the radical spike in my ferritin, which turned out to be accompanied by spikes in liver enzymes, led to ultrasound on my liver, and further testing. The lab results have been diagnosed as the result of an active infection of hepatitis C. Viral load confirms it, not high, but significant at about 380,000 rna IU/ml. Over the past month I've been treated by a naturopath using phlebotomy, R alpha lipoic acid, N acetyl cystine, and a few others.
I consulted a doctor, board certified in thalassemia, trying to determine if vitamin C was affecting iron load, because vitamin C is used to increase iron availability for chelation by deferoxamine. Inconclusive... . Still waiting for appointment with infectious disease specialist to explore conventional treatments for hepatitis C.
Due the possible effects of vitamin C on thalassemia induced iron overload, I reluctantly reduced vitamin C supplementation and continued with the phlebotomies, R alpha lipoic acid etc. The result are encouraging, so I have started adding more vitamin C to the regimen. Drs Levy and Cathcart both recommend high dose vitamin C for hepatitis C.
A month ago my ferritin reached 4107
Liver enzymes also tested very high:
Alkaline phosphatase: 164
Alkaline Aminotransferase: 1785
Aspartate Aminotranserase: 1083
Bilirubin total: 4.3
Hence the trip to the hospital for ultrasound on my liver, which showed no damage yet.
Based on the above lab results, the naturopath did phlebotomy almost daily, being careful with my thalassemia induced anemia so my hematocrit and hemaglobin haven't gone too low. He suggested a heptatitis C treatment protocol following Dr. Bert Berkson:
http://www.healthyhepper.com/berksonclinicalstudy.htm . A couple of weeks of this have shown considerable improvement. I may still have to endure months of drug treatments, but my labs are much improved:
Ferritin: 1053
Alkaline phosphatase: 139
Alkaline Aminotransferase: 674
Aspartate Aminotranserase: 395
Bilirubin total: 3.0
This press release is the best thing I've seen from conventional medicine on hepatitis C:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 041014.php One of these days I'd like to get back to reducing my coronary calcium, Lp(a), and Lp-PLA2 . Fortunately because I was getting labs frequently for heart disease, I saw the ferritin spike early and discovered the liver enzymes were also way off. Difficult to say how long the hepatitis C virus has been in my system. I've never had a transfusion, don't do drugs, and I'm not homosexual. I worked for ten years as a dialysis tech doing punctures and working with blood, so that is the only likely source of my infection.