When I was a young child, perhaps around 1982, I gave up a lot of my blood for genetic-testing purposes. Specifically, to help doctors understand the disease my sister suffered from. It was the rarest form of Muscular Dystrophy at the time, Dermatomyositis, but it probably isn't anymore. Not even close. I don't really recall the whole procedure, but it was a lot of blood. Every one told me how great I was for giving my blood, that it may help my sister. I have no idea what happened with it, or if they discovered anything special. Am I somewhere in some medical journal, noted as sister to subject A? The ordeal obviously didn't scar me. Or at least did not make me afraid of needles.
However, I did not donate blood again until this summer. I would say there are a lot of reasons for this both valid and and completely irrational. Luckily the valid reasons totally trumped those emotionally stupid ones, like my extreme aversion to having strangers touch me. For a good portion of my life I was either underweight or had received a tattoo recently (within the last 12 months). Now, the weight thing is still an issue, but the thing is, no one weighs you!
There are two reasons I can think of that finally got me to enter a blood-mobile: my job constantly announces when there is a blood drive, and I'm on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. I feel calmer and more willing to go in to unknown situations. I still panic a bit in my head, but I'm able to ignore it. It has been several years since my last tattoo, and I could get away with lying about my weight (or at least acting innocent), but what I didn't predict was that there would be another problem that I had not considered. Iron deficiency.
All those years I wasn't donating blood, it had never even occurred to me that this is something that was not only a problem for me, but for doing altruistic deeds. Sigh. I knew I had really low iron--I started seeing an endocrinologist a year ago on the advice of the head cardiovascular doctor I was working for at the time. He was always bothered about how cold I felt. That I bundled myself in sweaters and had a space heater on at all times, even in the middle of summer with a southern facing window. I always wanted to say that I am not wearing a blubber-suit, so I don't have self-insulation, but he got me in to one of the top doctors in town. The doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with me (which was not a surprise at all, and I'm so negative that I didn't feel let down at all), other than my iron was at 22. Seems that's kind of low. Who knew?
I've been taking very strong iron supplements for a year. They often make my poo dark green, but I'm still just as cold as ever. I've added a blanket to my battle against the office goosebumps, and am often seen wearing it as a cape. I'm totally that professional. It looks really awesome with my whore boots.
When I donated earlier this summer, I was with an intake person who didn't tell me my stats (like blood pressure, temperature, pulse, etc.). So I have no idea if I just sneaked by or not. Today, I had a chatty lady. My pulse was 76, blood pressure at 96/78, temp at 97.8 (totally normal for me), and my iron was 38. I was very cheered that it was up so far from 22. However, seems that there is a different bar set for donating blood, and 38 is as low as one can go and still be allowed to donate blood. Hot damn! I don't know what more to do to get my iron at a thriving count. Geez. I practically eat an Atkins diet, not because I think it is a good idea, but because I'm such a damn picky eater. When I do eat vegetables, it is almost always spinach. I'm taking 361% of my daily recommended iron, and I'm taking 833% of my daily vitamin C, which is supposed to help my body process iron. I am on birth control that makes it so I only menstruate 4 times a year, so my period isn't causing this problem. What more can I girl do?
I was able to donate today, by one count. One small iron count. Sometimes it is just easier to be a completely shy freak, who doesn't like to leave the house, than have to worry about if I can or cannot donate. Lame. I'm totally going to eat like 5 corndogs before I go in the next time.
2 comments:
Your blood pressure is kind of low, too, at least on the systolic. I wonder if that contributes to you feeling cold at work. More likely it is the common office trait of too much air conditioning.
The anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication make my blood pressure almost non-existent. I wasn't taking them when I went to see the endocrinologist. I don't seem any more cold than I used to be. But yes, my blood pressure is near zombie level. Which, you know, is TOTALLY cool.
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