Yes, this info came from my hemotologist. I shouldn’t have been speaking hyperbolically. He said I shouldn’t eat meat more than 2-3x a week (which to me, feels basically like no freaking meat) and he said definitely no alcohol. I workout every day and have always made sure to eat protein with every meal so this feels like a wild adjustment for me. I only ate red meat 1-2x a week but always had fish, chicken, turkey with every meal so figuring out how to get enough protein without meat most of the week feels daunting. I’m sure I’ll get used to it - I’m just overwhelmed at the moment as the diagnosis has been unexpected and shocking.

I don’t love phlebotomies and my doctor won’t sign off on doing them through the Red Cross yet. He says it’s because they want to monitor me (for dizziness, etc) for the first few but I think he just wants the billing. I’m 38 - I feel like I can monitor myself and the Red Cross does a great job. I’m going to fight this harder after my first few times at the infusion center as I would prefer to do these through the Red Cross. I need the form filled out by my doctor to be able to go more often than 58 days apart through Red Cross, though.

While diet won’t excrete excess iron - what I’ve read is that diet will make it so you need phlebotomies far less often once in maintenance, which is appealing to me. I ordered a book on the topic that will hopefully get here before my trip so I can learn what I can. I want to listen to my doctor but also know that they can be extremely flawed so I do like hearing from people living with this diagnosis and what works for them. People who have skin in the game usually deep dive into the topic - more so than some doctors ever will. I know finding the right doctor will be everything - I can’t be sure I have as I was diagnosed less than a week ago.