Holy Toledo

The newest lab result to come in is labeled Ferritin. Supposedly the standard range is 22-291 ng/mL, and Wikipedia says I should be concerned about anything under 50. Mine says 4. Four! 4 is significantly less than 50! WebMD says even 6 month old babies should have at least twice that!

The internet says that probably means I really don't have any iron in my system. Eek. That would explain why my sisters tease me about looking like I have lip liner around my white lips all the time. (White lips being an indication of anemia). How low must it have been before if 4 is what I get when I'm feeling relatively ok??

I guess that answers the iron vs. vitamin B12 question. Although maybe my B12 is low too. But dang. I am an itty bit concerned that it could have gotten so low while I've been making such a concerted effort to keep it up. Maybe I will email this new doctor of mine to ask her what I should make of this.

Duuuuuuude. Wikipedia says that low levels of iron can also give you the jimmylegs. Crazy. What if that has been the tingle I always feel in the back of my legs that makes me stretch all the time such that I can now touch my nose to my knees with my legs straight? I suspect it also means I'm craving exercise, but still! Revelation upon revelation! It's like a mystery novel that is all coming together!

According to WebMD, difficulty concentrating is another symptom of anemia. I bet that's why I had such a hard time studying for my last two finals because normally I am a master of concentration, but sometimes I just can't do it for the life of me. My mind is being blown right now.

I wonder what it feels like to have so called normal levels of iron in your system. Maybe I would turn into a superhuman. I probably would. My god, the more I read about this stuff, iron sounds like a miracle cure to every thing I've sort of just come to accept as normal.

So ok, people, the next time you see me looking out of it and always holding on to stuff when I walk, make me eat a nice juicy hamburger, stat. I hereby give up all claim to ever becoming vegetarian. This confirms my suspicion that we really are complex chemical reactions influenced in large part by what we eat.