I'm Not Dead Yet... I Think I'll Go For a Walk..
Ten things I love about iron, a whole ocean-liner-load of iron in fact, pumped into my left arm a month or so ago:
1 It makes me bounce around like the energiser bunny.
2 I don't feel like I might keel over when I walk up a hill anymore.
3 I'm now not so pale that you can see every one of my freckles.
4 I smile a lot.
5 I've stopped being so shouty.
6 I can stay up past Posy's bedtime.
7 I can stay up past Posy's bedtime and get off the couch. But only if I really want to.
8 I don't cry when I lose the car keys.
9
10 I don't seem to be able to panic. I think I've transformed into one of those calm, serene people who do yoga and drink wheatgrass juice for fun. Except it turns out you don't need yoga and wheatgrass juice, just a boatload of iron.
So now I'm not pale and languid anymore I have had to stop doing my celebrated impression of a mid-Victorian invalid. I've bounced up off the chaise longue and keep helpfully reminding everyone who looks a little pale to go and get some iron.
Seriously. Iron, people. Every time I had a newborn I was slightly anaemic and slightly post-natally depressed. The midwives would look critically at the inside of my eyelids and say, 'You need iron, go and get a bottle of Floradix immediately,' and of course I wouldn't, Well, ignore the midwife at your risk. I strongly suspect now that my post-natal anxiety and mini-panic attacks may have been all the better for that bottle of Floradix.
But we were way beyond a need for Floradix this time. None of the extensive number of tests I've had so far have showed any reason for me to be catastrophically anaemic. 'At least it's unlikely to be cancer', trills the doctor cheerily, 'If you were this anaemic from cancer I'd expect you to be dead by now.'
I have a lovely doctor, but she tends to get carried away by professional enthusiasm, 'Don't worry until I tell you to be worried,' she instructs me, 'There are lots more tests we can do yet!'
Oh, yay.
I think I'll go for that walk now. While I still can.
Comments
So glad you are getting a respite from the fatigue and are feeling human again!
I was low on iron and had to take iron for months. If I didn't my doc threatened me with having it intravenously. Hate injections so I took the iron religiously and reached the age where iron was not lost so frequently and it got better. No cause found, except being a womanly woman, if you get my gist.
Love your analogies in this post. There's something to be said for being a Victorian invalid. Weakly calling to your partner, "Dear, dear, I need a tonic." I'd still feign it sometimes.
And, BTW, you are very pretty.
Tammy, yes, the cold hands and feet have gone away too. Isn't it the wonder drug?
Lucinda, there is generally some reason I can think of I need to recline on a couch and demand cups of tea. I have a very fertile imagination!
Time for elevenses! So someone should bring a nice pot of tea to you. Just because!
However my lovely daughter did just bring me a cup of Irish breakfast for afternoon tea. She wins 'favourite child' of the day award.
I'm so glad to hear and see you're on the mend. I have no idea how you continue to care for your brood when you feel so half dead. And still blog! INcrdible.
Has the iron helped? The range for healthy iron is huge, and if you are right on the low edge, which I was with all my pregnancies, there is lots of room for improvement.
The problem now is, that I was way below the bottom of the scale on both types of iron. Hardly any in my blood, and almost no stored iron. But it is amazing how you can get used to functioning in any given set of circumstances..
One of the many things I am being tested for is thyroid function. You might want to look at that. Low thyroid can mean that you are a tired, sad mess, and is associated with iron malabsorption as well..
Aren't we a pair!
seriously, glad you are feeling better.
I really hope you are feeling better. My family females all have iron issues so I know how flattening it can be. At work I'm not allowed near patients with low Hb but I know my sis managed to drag herself through full time teaching and mum duties with scarily low Hb and like you didn't let it stop her despite feeling like hell. Unfortunately where she lives they wont give transfusions so i still worry about her. She swears by some vile beef blood tablets. I think its a weird Dutch product. Lol
I'm sure you've heard it all before but just in case try to avoid our beloved tea within 30mins of any meals since tanin stops iron absorption.
Also has your gp ruled out vitamin b12 issues?My mum has to have regular jabs due to a B12 problems. It took them ages to work out what the problem was but its really helped her now.
Apparently my immune system will kick in again any week now. Good news!
So sorry for your sister, though her solution sounds nasty. I would take an iron infusion over beef blood tablets any day! Maybe that's why blood pudding was popular in the good old days - concentrated doses of iron. Yum..
Barb.