Did someone turn up the gravity? The joys of iron deficiency.

[alee_grrl]

So apparently the reason I've been growing increasingly more fatigued (the sort of fatigued where it feels like someone turned up the gravity a notch, or turned the air into molasses). Movement was getting more difficult, concentration fuzzier, and I was getting more and more irritable. When I last went in to get my thyroid checked (a bit over a month ago I think), my pcp had also ordered my iron checked. I shared those results with my lyme doctor, who noted I was slightly anemic and ordered another check to be done around the start of September. I finally managed to find time (and motivational spoons) to go in on Saturday. The results came in today, and I am not anemic but I am iron deficient (I didn't realize you could be one but not the other). So I'm to start taking iron supplements twice a day. They have to be taken two hours away from the antibiotics, and far away from the thyroid supplement (so afternoon and bedtime). Most likely cause it that I had started using NSAIDs (like ibuprofen and aspirin) again having forgotten for a time that I am not supposed to take those. Combined with the effexor they make me more likely to bruise and have iron deficiency issues. ::headdesk::

Things are quiet enough at work that I was able to leave a little early and will be able to take tomorrow off. My bosses are super wonderful, and very understanding of the health issues. Of course I appreciate that understanding and put my all into being a good employee. So it works out for all of us. This gives me a three day weekend to get my iron levels back up and hopefully get back towards functional.

Fe: a haikai

limbs slow and heavy
thought fragments bleed through cotton
stuffed brain, bruised bags shine

against pale skin. Not zombie.
Just iron deficient.

Comments

[lilysea]

Oh, I know that gravity-has-been-turned-up feeling all too well.

Interesting that you're taking the iron *twice* a day. Which type are you taking?

I'm taking Ferrograd C.

[alee_grrl]

Feosol ferrous sulfate tablets 325 mg, twice a day (3 pm and bedtime). We check my levels again in about a month. I've had this issue come up once during treatment (back when I first started) and on the ferrous sulfate twice a day for a bit, then once a day for a bit, then none for a while. So I imagine that this treatment will proceed similarly.

[jelazakazone]

Yay for a workplace that values its employees' health for real. Awesome!!!

Hope you have a restful couple days and are feeling better soon.

Very interesting poem, by the way!

[alee_grrl]

Yay for a workplace that values its employees' health for real. Awesome!!!

I know. It's amazing, and so very hard to find in the legal or corporate world (at least here in the US).

Hope you have a restful couple days and are feeling better soon.
Thank you!

Very interesting poem, by the way!
Thanks! I've been really feeling the urge to write, and these little snippets kept coming through the past few days. So I figured I'd try shaping them into a little haikai. After not having written any poetry for a while it is nice to have something new down.

[raze]

Aw, I've been both iron deficient and low RBC anemia and they both just plain suck. But I'm glad you found the cause and will hopefully be back on track soon!

[alee_grrl]

Thanks! I'm already starting to notice a decrease in the fatigue.

[sulien]

Oy. I know whereof you speak and hope you get the iron deficiency taken care of soon so that you don't have to keep your alarm on your phone set to every few hours to take another pill of one sort or another. That's a royal pain, as is lugging what feels like the contents of a small pharmacy around. *gives you gentle hugs*

[alee_grrl]

Thanks! The pill schedule is annoying as hell.

::gentle hugs back::