Health Update

Ever since the first part of January, I've felt so damn lethargic.

Not the kind from depression; that feels different. No, this kind is the "I've had a full night's sleep and drunk a cup of coffee and I still cannot muster enough energy or enthusiasm to do more than watch TV. Also, I can't think clearly and sometimes I can't string together a coherent sentence." This latter, as you can imagine, is damn frightening for a writer.

I realized something was really, really wrong when I was drinking a second cup in the afternoon just to get me through the day, and I still had barely enough oomph to walk the dogs. So I started studying what it was I had been eating.

It then occurred to me that, even though I've always been a carnivore, I had been seriously craving protein on a regular basis. Not just "ooh, I'm hungry" but "NEED RED MEAT NOW" kind of thing. And on the days I had felt better, I had typically eaten a nice meal of red meat either that day or the day before. But even after trying to eat more red meat, I was still feeling blah and cloudy-headed. Oh, and I had started to whack the right side of my body into walls, which was definitely unusual, as I am right-dominant.

I only recently (remember, sometimes thinking is difficult for me) figured out that maybe, perhaps, I have some kind of anemia. After all, red meat is full of hemoglobin and therefore iron. I did some quick research on teh Googlez and it turns out that, yes, anemia can include the symptoms of:

• fatigue
• irritability
• difficulty concentrating
• insomnia
• headaches
• paleness
• clumsiness

Well, I'm already naturally pale and prone to headaches anyone, and I've always been a night owl, so those symptoms could have easily crept up on me. And I've always been a cranky bitch. But the fatigue, the difficulty in concentrating, the clumsiness... it started to add up, especially because my father also has some kind of iron deficiency thing, although his seems to be an old-man sort of thing.

But still, now there was a direct genetic relation.

At this point, I'd make an appointment with a doctor -- but I am poor and have no health insurance. Besides, the last time I had a check-up I didn't have any warning indicators with the bloodwork -- but then again, the feelings of fatigue hadn't started then, either.

So I did an experiment:  I took one of my father's massive iron pills, and what do you know, I started to feel better almost immediately. Not great, you understand, but better. Like the fog was clearing from my brain. Later that day, I felt positively normal. I was talking intelligently, with proper verbs and everything, and I wasn't whacking my right side into the wall.

There you go, then: I was some kind of anemic, and it had come on just after my last blood test. It's not an actual medical diagnosis, of course, but it's the best I can do in this instance. I'll keep you updated as I experiment with dietary supplements.

Hopefully this will result in more productivity.