The pitfalls of self-prescribing

A male client in his fifties came to see me as he was experiencing chronic insomnia.  In fact, he said his sleep had been terrible for years but recently it was becoming unbearable and it was taking him hours upon hours to fall asleep.  The next day he would feel incredibly tired, but also wired at the same time.  It got to the point where he could not bear it any longer when he counted a total of only ten hours sleep for the whole week. This client had been diagnosed with haemochromatosis a few years ago – a condition which causes the body to absorb and store too much iron.  His iron levels, seven months earlier, were sitting at an alarming 1200 mcg/L (anything over...