Since you said one of your siblings has it, I assume you are half siblings? I have hereditary hemochromatosis, and since my sisters and I have different mothers, I am the only one in my family to have it. It takes two parents who carry the gene.

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.