Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My run in with Iron Deficiency

PIC

Over the last 4 weeks I've been through a slightly scarey scenario. I had been feeling extremely lethargic, my energy level was slim to none.. I'd sleep at all hours of the day and when I went out I'd have no energy to do anything. I'd even sleep on the train and it's really not something I do but I was just so blasted tired and couldn't figure out why no matter how I tried. I pulled out every trick in the book that I had which even inspired to do my post about green smoothies, I even had little to no appetite but would force myself to eat. The surprising thing is that it got so bad I'd fall asleep like really be out soon as I was done eating. That was weird because you're not supposed to feel like that after eating; I understand alittle itis but that? I'd also get dizzy and slight fainting spells because my energy was so low. No matter what I ate I would fall asleep almost immediately and looking back on it I think my body was telling me that what I ate wasn't what I needed.

So one night I got this craving for a Wendy's burger(kinda like what I'm having now). I got it, I ate it and almost immediately felt better, so much so that I ate everything in the package. I mean everything. I wondered why I was feeling better and realised that it had to be the beef. Well whuddoyaknow? My ass was iron deficient all along. I never thought about it the whole month I was damn near dying!!(ok that was dramatic). If you're wondering why I didn't go to the doctor it's because I have no health insurance.

Since learning that fact about myself I've been eating medium rear burgers and enjoying it, as well as taking iron tablets. I learned from a friend that iron is best absorbed when taken with vitamin C so I drink with juice instead of water and have really noticed a difference in absorption. I'm also thinking of getting Ferroglobin or Ferrol Compound; they are liquid iron supplements mostly found in the UK and Caribbean. If anybody knows of any New York stores or U.S. websites to buy them it would be really appreciated.


FERROGLOBIN

FERROL COMPOUND


Results of my findings:
More energy
No dizzy/fainting spells
Super duper increased appetite
I'm almost back to normal 


So with that being said, I learned the importance of nutrition in a hard way and hope that you all don't go through that. We all know if your body is deficient of nutrients nothing will go to the hair because our organs are more important than our hair thus leaving room for hair loss to occur. We women also have that neat thing about us called the menstrual cycle that throws a monkey wrench in our iron levels. : /  I'm sure that taking iron especially during that period would help but it's easier said than done because we forget. I do however, hope my experience inspires you to improve on that as well as getting adequate amounts of other nutrients in your bodies. It's a work in progress for me.

3 comments:

  1. Oh yea I forgot about Sanatogen. Thanks. I'll go snooping around to the Caribbean stores in my area and see if I find them. The pills work ok but not like I imagine a liquid or powder would.

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  2. I've also had a serious run in with low iron. My doctor was surprised that I was still walking around, the only reason that I managed to is due to tif deficiency being gradual.

    My doctor gave me iron tablets and put me on 3 a day to get my levels up. That reminds me, I should go take a tablet...!

    T

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  3. Child I'm surprised I was still walking around too. I alternate between two and three a day.

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