Jul 02, 2007 15:13
This is a bit of a story, but there's a point, I promise.
Friday, I went to go give blood at a blood bank. I got asked the questions then stuck out my arms and the nurse was so estatic over my "juicy vein" (it's very easy to see). She gave me the finger prick test and my blood kinda floated for a while, so she decided to get it tested a little further. She came back with kind of a frown. I had been rejected for low hemoglobin. She explained that minimum level of hemoglobin for females is 11 g/dL. 12 is normal and 13 is outstanding. 10.5 is about where you stand if you didn't eat before going (which I had). She told me I had a 9.8. "The finger prick test isn't always accurate", she said. So I got the venous test done with the centrifuge, which is supposed to be more accurate. I wait about 10 minutes or so and she finally comes back..with a rather worried look on her face. It's not 9.8 anymore - it's 8.9. That's about a 20% difference from where I need to be - it's "abnormal". Joy. That doesn't happen overnight. To get back to an 11 wouldn't be a meal, but a month. She looked me dead in the eye and said I need to contact a physician. Am I so jaded from these experiences that I don't even flinch anymore?
So here's my point: There's a chance I'm anemic. It would make sense to me. Symptoms include cold intolerance (check), pica (eating things that aren't really meant to be eaten - like ice), also check, low stamina - this is very true. But then, this might just be a lot of hype and I'm just actually out of shape and just had a bad day because I was sick or something (I WAS coming off a cold). Either way, things are going to have to change, whether it be I cook in a cast iron pot or start taking iron supplements and exercise even more (I've been pretty regular about going to the gym lately).
I go in for blood tests on Thursday. Anemia is a symptom in itself so here's hoping that if that is what it is, that it is the non-life threatening, non-cancer induced, reversible kind.