The War for Iron
science.org
science.org
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-022-00723-5
Note that they were studying a mouse model of sepsis, which is a full-blown blood-borne bacterial infection that is certainly fatal in humans as often as not. Today this is treated by antibiotic injection and is rarely fatal if caught early, but likely this process is something like a last-ditch defense against the invading bacteria. Sequesting iron after blood cell lysis might inhibit bacterial growth but probably also means it's harder for the remaining blood cells to deliver oxygen to and pick up CO2 from important cells like those in the heart and brain, and it might mess up other basic metabolic processes. Hence this probably isn't something that gets triggered too easily, or which plays much of a role in mild illnesses. It might also be a counter-productive response in some viral illnesses.
Anyone who thinks they might be in the early stages of sepsis should seek immediate medical attention in an emergency room. This happened to me once, after foolishly swimming in the ocean after getting a deep cut on my leg - which swelled up to half again its normal size with long red streaks shooting up the whole length of the leg. Two big shots of rifampicin in each buttock and a week spent in bed with a course of some other oral antibiotics and I was fine, but in the pre-antibiotic era that might not have been the case!
> "Early sepsis is characterized by the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) - tachycardia, tachypnea, fever (over 100.4 F or 38oC) or hypothermia (below 96.8 F or 36oC), and leukopenia or leukocytosis."
https://www.news-medical.net/health/Everything-You-Need-To-K...
It did seem like an obvious point of concern, since our bodies need iron.
I've also found cod liver (such an underrated delicacy) and iron supplements sometimes give me a tremendous amount of energy a couple hours after ingestion, possibly due to chronic mineral deficiencies. I am not anaemic btw, and male, so I'm not losing iron every month. I should try and take iron pills more often, but one needs to be careful not to go overboard with metals.
EDIT: well, apparently iron therapy for IBD is a thing. Somehow I had never heard of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_supplement#By_injection
I am really impressed by and grateful for people who are deep subject matter experts and can also write in a very engaging style that regular people can follow along with and learn from.
Old joke: "Nice to see you. I recognize your name, but I'm damned if I can remember your face."
0: https://archive.nytimes.com/dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...
I think scale matters. If done in big quantities, it surely would change the maritime ecology, but do you have any reason to believe there are hidden dangers?
If we stop eating, then there's less nutrients available for invaders, who have a large need to grow and replicate so they can spread to the next host. The human body doesn't need to rapidly grow though, so it can go without much food for a few days.
Instead of eating, try resting and laying still. Don't even watch movies. Maybe listen only music or listen podcasts if you must.
This is just anecdotal and personal, but if I just have patience to stay still and lay down, I usually get better faster.
But probably the best thing to do is: eat (but not too much) if you're hungry, don't if you're not (but probably don't go too many days without food).
Women's mortality starts to match men's as they progress on menopause. The theory on that is that their iron markers go up when they stop menstruation. This is also probably why blood donors have better health and longer lifespans, even when you account for the better starting health of the blood donor cohort.
Anyway, yes, bloodletting (properly called phlebotomy) is really the only way to deal with it. The first 3 years after my diagnosis my hematologist and I tried out quite a few things to help control it, including diet modifications and different time intervals between phlebotomies. We ended up settling on phlebo every 6 weeks and eat whatever I want.
As an aside, though we usually deride traditional bloodletting, I've recently learned of two conditions bloodletting / blood donation is a useful treatment for: high blood iron level, and high blood viscosity.
Doctors used to prescribe women horse-derived estrogen (PREMARIN - made from PREgnant MARes' urIN) on the mistaken belief that women were deficient in estrogen after their cycles stopped. "Prescription horse piss" doesn't sell very well to people who don't necessarily trust their doctors, so the medical industry mostly switched to selling a synthetic bio-identical estrogen to treat women's supposed "estrogen deficiency".
But really it's the loss of a monthly Progesterone surge, from the post-ovulation luteal phase of the cycle, that's behind women's health advantages over men. When ovulation stops, women's death rates rapidly increases to match men's rates.
Supplemental progesterone can be taken transdermally or via injections. Most of the progesterone in a pill is lost to the first-pass metabolism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_pass_effect
I also wonder whether there is any impact on length of illness by taking things like iron and magnesium.
Aren’t zinc and magnesium a couple of the things they say to take during sickness?
In The Pipeline
Derek Lowe’s commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry.
As someone with Crohn's disease, I am interested in developing superior alternatives.
It's well and good to generalize and I do that myself[1], but if you know you have some atypical condition please just talk to a pro who really understands your situation.
[1] For example I mentioned in another comment not too long ago that under normal circumstances dietary cholesterol isn't a big deal and it's not. But there are people with certain conditions for whom it is a very big deal.
One thing that's worked out for me is nerding out with my doctors though. If they can't then I find a new one. So far for me this has just been with respect to lifting weights and the various consequences thereof, but I imagine the principle generalizes. I'm getting to the age where my body is going to start climbing the s-curve of decay so I hope I'm right. And I do have reason to hope.
Someone very important to me has a rare genetic disorder. It took over a decade, but that person found a doctor who actually cared and nerded out over it and followed the research. Those caregivers are out there, so don't give up looking for them. If you happen to be fortunate enough to live in California your odds of finding such a person within driving distance are quite good.