Melissa Mermaid
Stopping Back to Pay it Forward
Nov 24, 2015
As usual, life continues to speed along, with or without my participation. I have a mixed bag of news to share but since I refuse to spew all over a page without providing something useful, it’s taken me some time to post my experience and share it in a way that you (hopefully) find helpful.
To make a long story short, I’ve been a bad girl--and not in a good way. I stopped taking my vitamins/supplements religiously a couple of years ago and managed to keep myself “out of danger” by having my homemade coffee-protein shake and eating very healthily.
But a torrent of crummy circumstances occurred simultaneously: DH let go from a well-paying, well-deserved job he held for 14 years (without a sick day)--the exact month we had finished paying off $120,000 in debt (after five years of debt consolidation) and were going to apply for a mortgage to buy the house of our dreams; beloved family dog died shortly after coming to live with us again after “working” for several years as a companion for an old friend (who took us to court for asking her to leave the house where we had let her stay AND paid all her bills)… Mom's 80th birthday that played out more like “Weekend at Bernie’s” (she’s had Alzheimers for 15 years)... Yes, there IS more but I’ll spare you...
With fibromyalgia, severe Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and chronic fatigue syndrome, I had become convinced that my small dose (25mcg) of Synthroid was making me suicidal and that depression was the reason I had sunk so low. So I simply stopped taking it. Then I sank lower.
Over the past few months, it was clear by my "symptoms" that I was low on iron (e.g., no color to my skin, nails and the membranes under my eyes; lessening mental acuity and ability to concentrate; brittle nails; nonexistent energy); Vitamin A (dry skin, rashes, problems focusing eyes); Vitamin K (bruising); Calcium (joints creaking when flexing); Vitamin D & Zinc (decreased immunity levels; if it was “going around,” I caught it); Vitamin B (some neuropathy—lazy feet, feet falling asleep easily)… ad nauseum. Literally. The only right things I did were continuing to eat fresh foods, keeping protein first and staying reasonably hydrated.
What I have since learned that is imperative you all know (in case you hadn’t realized it already) is that what you may think is “only” depression is probably more related to the chemical imbalances caused by deficiencies.
Wherever life takes you, there’s a reason behind why you feel lousy. It’s not all depression or disappointment or “inability to cope.”
One hand washes the other & one malfunction is likely to affect/spark another.
Don’t give up on being a better you (which is easy to do);
Don’t think that you aren’t meant to live a better paced life (you might);
Don’t think that everything is too overwhelming and it’s better to lay in a fetal position than take chances (you will).
Find the impetus in you that risked it all to have this surgery & take it to a medical professional to fix what’s wrong.
You are so freakin’ worth it. See it, believe it, make it happen. Face it, fix it, rock it.
So I’ve been doing the iron infusion thing. When I started my hemoglobin was at 6; I’m almost at 11 (norm is about 12-16). Finally “regaining the will to live and regenerate.”
Downside is I’ve put on about 10 lbs because the supplement (Venofer) is 30% sucrose and my body is sucking up all the “sugar” along with the iron. (I live a sugar-free lifestyle, so those of you who know me know how aggravating & upsetting it is to me to put on any weight—even if most think I need it/look better.) But it’s also great motivation never to get to the point of needing clinical intervention for supplementation again.
I have SO learned my lesson. They tell me the weight gain is a necessary evil because it’s better than being anemic and that once the treatments are over, I will be able to eliminate the sucrose in my body. Sort of like taking steroids though; weight gain is weight gain—even when it has nothing to do with poor eating habits.
Additionally, I’m back to my daily coffee-protein shakes, I mix liquid vitamins in with my SF Hawaiian Punch… I’m chewing my calcium wafers…
The gratitude, as usual, comes with surviving and emerging from the other side of crap with renewed determination, improved health, and the ability to share the downside with you in hopes you learn from my stupidity that there’s much more to deficiencies than words/warnings and feeling lousy: IT MESSES WITH YOUR HEAD IN A MAJOR WAY.
So… Don’t let it get to the point I did. But if it has and you see any of you in my words/sharing... Get your butt to help... IM-freakin'-ME-DIATELY.
Get it? Got it? GOOD!!
