so turns out maybe you're NOT supposed to be dizzy nearly 24/7

hi hello my friends recently bullied me into visiting a doctor and i had a Fun Discovery (it's nothing serious, i'm fine, knowing this is genuinely a good thing, pls laugh at how dumb the situation is with me)

i get vaguely dizzy super frequently - have been, for ages - but i hate bothering people so i've just kinda, whined a bit about it to my friends but other than that kept doing my thing. i've had a summer job (which involved tons and tons of walking and also moving fridges around - that was not fun for dizzyness), i go to school, i do my reading even when it takes me like twice as long as it should bc i keep zoning out cause my head's all foggy... i'm exhausted all the time and i thought that was just like, a Thing, i thought everyone felt that way & i was just exaggerating/being a wimp/not being strong enough to push through it like everyone else does. last month friend got sick of being Worried about me all the time so she nagged me to call a doctor and i did and they took a blood sample and turns out

i'm basically anemic. i am so stupidly iron deficient it's actually hilarious.
like, he told me normal iron levels are between 10 & 90 ug per liter? 40 is the Ideal, if you're on the lower end of the range it might be time to start worrying.
i'm at 3 point fucking 9
that is less than a 10th of what you're supposed to have like. holy shit. also slightly deficient in vitamin B12, and my vitamin D levels (46) are closer to hospitalisation (25) than the lowest normal level (75). FUN.

so yeah this explains um?? everything??? dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, all symptoms of this shit.
ALSO earlier this year (in like, january,) i had my 1st hangover (which i recapped in my vent thread) and it was..... terrible, like, absolutely terrible, not only did my head hurt like hell but i was so dizzy i couldn't stand until like 3pm the day after & couldn't hold food down for another 2 hours. shit was wild and it was my 1st hangover i have no fucking clue how they're meant to be
we thought mine was super bad bc i was concussed or smth no, turns out i'm just fucking anemic, because guess what, ALCOHOL INHIBITS IRON.... WHATEVER THE WORD IS. INTAKE. PROCESSING. everything makes perfect fucking sense now.

so yeah i've got vitamin supplements (200mg iron per day. it's... interesting) & something to laugh about & a lecture from my mother about eating better (i swear i have been eating? iron-rich foods too? i eat spinach & broccoli & soy beans regularly? she doesnt believe me) and, yeah. wham.

this feels like it should be such a small thing but if the vitamin supplements work it's literally gonna change my life bc i might have energy enough to like.... have a job.... and then still do things after that job holy shit. i might be able to do my reading w/o reading the same page 3 times to get through it? wild

i'm probs gonna poke this thread again if i make more connections/realise other things that Totally Make Sense Now & also to keep track of if i can actually feel the pills working. (speaking of which, time for more iron. wheeeee.)

((also is there any chance anyone happens to know of any low-effort foods with lotsa iron in it bc rn i'm getting by w emergency foods being scrambled eggs w spinach or pasta pesto broccoli but like, that's not gonna keep tasting well for long, so i'd really appreciate tips :') lol i'm gonna have to put so much more effort into keeping myself fed now))

 

Do you eat meat? B/c red meats in particular (and also some organ meats) can be better sources of iron for humans than plants. It's easier to process than non-heme iron. It doesn't have to be red meat; poultry and seafood work too.

Are the doctors looking for causes? It's kind of alarming that you're so low, even though you were eating broccoli and whatnot. I was severly anemic last year around this time because of health reasons that needed to be treated to prevent further iron loss.

Speaking of which, severe anemia sympathy noises, it is a terrible way to feel.

 

Apparently taking vitamin C supplements with your iron supplements increases absorption-might be something to do?

 

HIGH FIVE
(am i allowed to ask, since you're saying 'were' and not 'are' - is the difference then vs now very noticeable? )

I do eat meat, but not often, & the only non-vegetarian thing i actually make myself with any frequency is oven-baked salmon (so like, 2-3 times a month) & will definitely be loosening up even more on that front, at least until this is under control. I was home over summer & then I definitely ate properly nutritious food (mom & dad have got this covered), but I was dizzy then too, so... shrugssss

they're not really looking for causes rn (gonna see if it gets better/how much better it gets from vitamin supplements first), but he did mention I should consider contraceptive pills to get my periods under control. (i thought they were under control, but then again, i thought dizziness was under control too, and evidently it is not, so maybe i'm not a reliable source here)

 

i was taking normal non-prescription vitamin c&d supplements before but now I kind of don't dare to cause I'm super paranoid about mixing any kind of meds/these arent meds but y'get me with each other haha. i..... think i asked if i should keep taking those alongside, and he said no?? but it is very possible i just made that up, my memory has been very spotty lately, esp in regards to conversations , ffs.

I've got a whole bunch of oranges tho, so maybe i can make do w getting vitamin c the normal way :p

 

Oh man, I've been that anemic before, but not with the other deficiencies, yeesh.

One thing I ended up doing was throwing greens into other stuff I was cooking. e.g. I have a tomato basil pasta recipe I make a lot when I'm low on spoons, and tossing in some kale or spinach or something doesn't raise the effort required too much. There's also some seafood that's got a fair bit of iron in it, if your tastes swing that way.

 

What part of cooking takes the most spoons for you?

 

the part where i'm in the kitchen & taking up space & being in the way & may mess things up & have people judging me
.....but that's not really concrete things that can be dealt with in any other way than "keep working on that anxiety bs" so, um. Stuff w many steps/many components tends to stress me out? esp. if I should be multitasking/juggling tons of different stuff...
(The reason I don't cook meat often (other than hey why not be vegetarian-ish, up until now this has seemed a rly unnecessary thing to push myself on) is I'm scared I'll do it wrong and when you do meat wrong that has consequences, if I undercook my pasta or the veggies that doesn't really make much of a difference, health/safety-wise.)
& we don't have a dishwasher + 12 ppl to a kitchen = v limited kitchen space sometimes, so the fewer different bowls/pans/etc there are the better, haha
but honestly most of that I am able to get around on Not Bad Days, the main issue really is that I just don't like being in the kitchen itself, so I kinda want out of there as quickly as possible lol

(i genuinely didn't know what kale was, i had to google translate it)
aaa that should definitely help! :D one of my go-to meals is to just fry rice w veggies, so if i just start being extra digilent w keeping eggs spinach etc on hand i should be able to just toss that in there.
unfortunately, salmon is p much the only seafood that actually tastes nice. it's v v tragic (& means my sushi selections are always super boring, rip)

 

Also, most veggies they categorize as "dark green leafy vegetables" have a fair bit of iron, but it's in the form that absorbs better with vitamin C. So, say, broccoli is also okay. But you might want to eat oranges or cook your veggies in recipes with tomatoes or something to make sure you get the most out of them.

 

You can add thin strips of meat, like bits of schnitzel, to your fried rice!

When it comes to cooking meat right, things you need visibly cooked all the way through are Chicken, Pork and Mince.

All of these can have dangerous things that are destroyed by cooking in the middle (in the case of mince, because there isn't. really a middle. it's all chopped up and mixed together-this also means it cooks fast though)

Other meat? Raw in the middle is fine, health and safety-wise! (Possibly not flavour or texture-wise depending on your taste.)


A recipe-thingy I use a lot with regards to mince or sausages (can do Curried Mince/Sausages or just Mince/Sausages and Rice) is this: Get and chop an onion and some other vegetables (and the sausages if using sausages-you can use the same knife for both it's fine). Get some rice and start boiling it-once it boils turn it off and just let it sit for 10 minutes to absorb water.
Add meat and onions to a large pot with some cooking oil. Cook a little until meat is browned (that is it's kinda cooked on the outside but not the inside-don't want to burn the onions). (If doing curried sausages/mince this is when you add your curry powder.)

Add water. Add any non-curry-powder flavourings you want-lots of soy sauce is good.

Boil it a bit. Add some wet cornstarch stuff to thicken the water into something of a sauce. Stir it frequently (this will break up the mince and make sure it's cooked)

Add other vegetables. Boil some more. Make sure to stir. Will probably be done at the same time as or before the rice-if unsure chop a sausage in half or break up a mince bit and see if the inside looks cooked.

You now have a meat, veges and rice dish! You can make a lot of this at once and it tastes good.

 

That recipe there uses only 2 pots, 1 knife, and 1 Stirring/Dishing Up Spoon.

I've tried to make it with pasta in just one pot but I burnt the bottom. Still tasted really good but there was burnt Residue.

 

You can also look up one-pot recipes.

Do you have any cast iron cookware?

 

Very, very noticeable. It made a huge difference in energy, ability to climb stairs, concentration, general feeling okay.... Just so much was affected because of not getting enough oxygen.

 

Yeah. I could, like, occasionally climb gentle slopes without feeling like I was dying.

 

# ideal

...but also like. this makes me feel a little bit like the test results aren't actually correct (which is silly!!!theres no reasoon why they wouldnt be!!!) because.... i AM doing those things? most of the time the dizziness is perfectly manageable! i take walks, i bike to class every day, i take long (L O N G) bike rides in the forest for fun, i had the aforementioned summer job andwas.... mmmmostly okay through that..... iunno i can't tell if I'm exaggerating or doing the exact opposite of that. bluh. guess I'll find out once I've gone through all the iron tablets.

 

is cast iron the heavy pans you're not supposed to have dish soap for? if so no, i don't. why?

((also thank you so much, your comments are super helpful))

 

I have asthma. Not severe, but even without anemia climbing hills sometimes makes me feel like I'm dying. So, don't go doubting the numbers because my level of hill-climbing distress is not baseline. :::PPP (And I could and did still do things. But I got out of breath extra easily with even mild exertion, and that got noticeably better when my iron levels got higher.)

 

Dried fruits are high in iron. As is peanut butter, however, I read once that your body doesn't digest peanut butter iron as well as other types, so maybe that's not super helpful.

 

Don't quote me on this, but the distinction I mostly remember seeing was between heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron is mostly found in meat, and is easier for your body to absorb, while non-meat sources, including supplements, are non-heme. Non-heme iron is what they tell you to take with Vitamin C to boost how much your body absorbs. Might be something else special about peanut butter, but they could just be comparing it to meat.

 

I mentioned the cast iron cookware (the stuff you aren't supposed to wash with soap) because food cooked in cast iron cookware is a little more iron-rich than other food because some of the iron leaches out of the cookware.

Same with cooking with a Lucky Iron Fish.