do i look like i'm turning into a vampire?

i've been on iron pills for about a month now, but haven't really noticed any improvement. i'm also trying to eat a lot of foods with iron in them. and, i heard Guinness has iron in it.

perhaps i'm just a 24 pack away from being healthy again.

i have, however, expanded the list of symptoms i experience. i don't know if all of these are caused by iron deficiency anemia, or if some have as-of-yet unknown causes. besides the obvious overwhelming fatigue, here are some of my other symptoms:

i have a constant feeling of tingling in my legs, which i've heard referred to as restless leg syndrome. this is actually a well known symptom of iron deficiency.


difficulty concentrating. my head always feels cloudy, and more so than usual.


weakness. my arms and legs always feel like jello. i also tend to have swollen hands and feet. for the first few weeks, i actually had a swollen tongue. that wasn't fun.


hair loss. this one is particularly difficult for me, as i used to have a LOT of THICK hair, and i'm only 29, and, i'm a woman!! i've definately noticed a lot more hair around the house than usual. makes me wonder if i wasn't just going crazy from studying for the bar when i wrote this a year and a half ago.


short term memory loss. it has become very difficult for me to remember the......wait......what was i saying?


difficulty regulating my body temperature. i can go from feeling very cold to very hot in a matter of minutes.


the most interesting symptom by far is craving blood. pica, which means the craving of non-food items, is not unusual in iron deficiency. usually people crave things like ice, dirt, or clay. i, however, crave blood. it started as craving rare bloody meat, which is probably normal for someone who is lacking iron since red meat has a lot of iron. but after a while, it turned more into craving the "bloody", and not so much the "meat". i haven't actually consumed blood, nor do i intend to, but the craving is definitely there. i feel a little like a vampire.


perhaps that could be a new career choice.


out.
- L

swimming pools and movie stars

i haven't done anything in like 3 weeks. i go to work (on days when i CAN make it to work), then come home and sleep. i'm still always extremely exhausted, and haven't noticed any difference since i've been taking the iron. the bf and i used to go out to dinner or meetup with friends for drinks at least a week. now, we lay around and watch a lot of movies. i thought about going to lay by the pool over the weekend, figuring that would still involve lying around, but i was just too tired to walk down there.

i had an echocardiogram this week. basically, an echo is like an ultrasound of your heart. you can see the ventricles and atriums and the blood flowing in and out on a little tv screen. i felt like i was watching a tv show starring my heart. and if i may so, my heart is quite the thespian.



out.
- L

iron (wo)man

my blood tests came back showing i have iron deficiency anemia. from what i've been told, normal iron numbers for women my age are between 150-250. my number? three. yes, three. so, i have to take iron pills for the next 6 months or so. they make me kinda sick, so i'm not looking forward to that.

more later.

outdoor festivals and ambulance rides

i had tickets to the citybeat beer festival yesterday in north park. although i was a little tired and jetlagged from having just returned from d.c. on saturday, i didn't want to waste my ticket and figured beer would be the perfect pick me up.



at the festival, i was standing in line waiting for the ladies room. and by ladies room, i of course mean one of those nasty port a potties. i had only had 5 or 6 of the little beer tasters at that point (probably the equivalent of a beer and a half) when i started to feel really nauseous. then i got tunnel vision for a few seconds. next thing i knew, people were shaking me awake on the street. apparently i had fainted. everyone kept asking if my head was okay, as i apparently had fallen on it. someone called the paramedics and they checked my vitals. my pulse was racing and i was extremely dizzy. my face felt very tingly and i was slightly disoriented and confused. so, they called an ambulance. at the ER, the doctors ran a bunch of tests, mostly to make sure i didn't have any internal bleeding from my fall.



everything came back okay, so they told me i could go home, finally after 6 hours. the bf took me home and stayed by my side all night to make sure i was okay.

so, now i need to make a doctor's appointment to find out what the hell happened. i've never fainted before. it was extremely scary waking up on the street having no idea what happened. don't want to do that again.

out.
- L

district o' columbia

i was in washington d.c. last week for six days for a conference. i had not been to d.c. in almost 10 years, so i was pretty excited to go. i enjoy visiting the city because there is so much to do there and the public transportation system makes it so easy to get around and see everything.

i had a little bit of time to do some sightseeing and saw the typical attractions: the white house, capitol, supreme court, smithsonian museums, washington monument, lincoln memorial, vietnam veterans memorial and the korean war memorial. i also saw the world war ii memorial, which had not yet been built the last time i was in d.c. i thought this memorial was very well done and was happy i had the opportunity to see it.





the boyfriend also joined me for the trip, so after i was finished at the conference each day we went out and explored the different neighborhoods of d.c., particularly the adams-morgan area (near our hotel), dupont circle, and union station. we would have liked to explore the georgetown area, as we heard it was a good area for people our age, but unfortunately we ran out of time.

all in all, it was a great trip. we look forward to going back in about another decade :)

out.
- L

i'm a fan of the wired:gadget lab feeds. occasionally, they have something so entertaining/interesting/unbelievable that i like to share it with people i know. you can check out wired by clicking on the link below which will take you to the article for the product featured below.

Smoking Gun Gigarette Holder: Wrong in So Many Ways






like the author of the wired article, i used to be a regular smoking. i gave it up about 8 years ago because i was having heart problems. but a fancy cigarette holder that would make me feel as if i'm inhaling the smoke after a gun discharges its load is almost reason enough to take it up again.

i appreciate the sarcasm of shooting yourself in the mouth everytime you take a drag. there aren't nearly enough cigarette holders with (not so) subtle sardonic undertones.

out.
- L

happy easter.....

while i was searching for some cute easter graphics, even though i don't celebrate easter, i came across this cookie cutter.



in case you can't tell from that picture, it is a cookie cutter of christ on the cross. it's from a bakery in germany and goes for approximately $20 USD.

i admit that, even with four years of catholic school training that my religious etiquette is, well.....somewhat lacking. would it be appropriate for me to bake a dozen of these soft and scrumptious J.C. cookies for the crazy religious lady i work with? and if so, do i make them chocolate or vanilla?

this all seems too potentially controversial to me. instead, i like to go with images i know are safe. so.......



happy easter.

out.
- L