Anything but that

Gasp. My mother has suggested the unthinkable. Celiac.

Wheat gluten is one of my most favorite things ever. My falling victim to the cruelty of celiac would be a foul trick of fate.

The problem is this: I honestly really did try to eat lots of iron this past month. Still no red meat, but I ate every iron rich thing vegetarians can eat and lots of it. Black beans, raisins, ferrous fumarate. I don't think I've ever eaten so many beans. I even ate turkey and chicken and fish. And to be still so low doesn't bode well.

Add to this the fact that my family has accused me of being anemic since my lips turned white at college ten years ago. No one can recollect ever seeing me with properly red lips. And I've never been rejected from the Red Cross before, but what I've neglected to mention is that I've always been almost rejected. Details, details.

And all these tell tale symptoms of anemia sound so familiar. I never thought they were a big deal. Yes, my fingers get tingly easily. Plenty of reasons for that to happen. Yes, on rare occasions I feel particularly dizzy, bump into walls when walking through doorways, and become a butterfingers. I actually choose cellphones to be able to withstand the many many times I am likely to fling them from my fingers, but A. that doesn't happen too often and B. everybody drops stuff sometimes. Yes, I get the rapid poundy heart when I probably shouldn't considering how much I ride my bicycle, but I definitely don't have pica or... damn is that really the only one I don't have? Is that why my lips are always cracked?

But celiac. Noooooooo. No no no. And yet Web MD does say it can lead to anemia caused by iron and or folic acid deficiency, which could explain why my supposedly iron-rich diet made no difference. But none of this celiac-specific stuff sounds familiar. And not the leukemia either, THANK GOD. Please, please I promise to be so good. I will put molasses and raisins in everything. I will eat red meat. I will eat cheese and folic acid for just in case. Just don't let it be celiac!

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post script

Ferrous fumarate supposedly has the most elemental iron of any of the forms commonly available as supplements, but they say adults need 60-200mg of iron daily. About a third of the weight of ferrous fumarate is elemental iron, so the normal 325mg tablets should do it, but I just looked at my bottle, and it says it includes 18mg of iron. In other words, no where near enough for someone who actually needs lots more iron. This is good news, I think. I think it is totally reasonable to at least do another dietary experiment before jumping to celiac. I will look for new vitamins.