Iron

I take iron supplements. For a long time, I felt really miserable. I was tired all the time, no matter how long I slept; I sometimes felt dizzy for no reason. For example, I'd be working at my desk and and then suddenly feel like I was going to fall off my chair, and then it would go away. To be honest, I never put those things together. I thought each sympton could be attributed to different things. How wrong I was.

When I went to give blood about this time last year, they turned me down and said my iron was too low. Since I had a doctor's appointment a couple weeks later, I told her about the blood place not letting me donate, and she ordered a couple tests. Apparently, I was anemic. She put me on Slow-FE, which is a type of iron supplement. Way more iron than your average multivitamin, which I had been taking every day. The next time I went to donate, that first little bit of blood dropped like a stone in the blue liquid. Yay! Of course, the better news is that I don't get dizzy, I'm only tired when I don't get enough sleep and a bunch of other problems went away too.

Over the course of the last year, though, I haven't been as dedictated in taking my supplements as I should. I barely made donation last time. So, I've been a good girl and eaten my oatmeal and broccoi and chicken and taken my pills.

Women have more trouble with iron deficiency because of our period. We lose iron every month. That blood is very heavy in iron, so we need to take more in. And on top of that, giving blood removes whole blood (including iron) from your system that you need to replace.

Today, I am going to donate platelets for the first time, instead of whole blood. Maybe this will be a better option for me, since only the platelets will be taken and not the whole blood. You can give platelets every 2 weeks, unlike whole blood, which is every 8 weeks. ( I was going every 10 weeks, to give myself more time to build up iron). I like to give blood because I have no money and very little time, but I feel like I want to make a contribution to my community.

I'm only a bit nervous. It will take a lot longer than regular donation, because they have to separate the platelets from the whole blood. Then the blood is returned to you. I don't like having stuff stuck in my arm and this will be about 1.5 hours. All told, I should be there for about 2 hours, which is not unusual for regular donation.

Update later.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!

*****

Update: That went quite well. I took a book with me. Smart move bringing the paperback and not the huge hardcover, since I only had one hand that I could use.

I feel much better after giving platelets than I usually do giving blood. I walked upstairs without my heart racing and I don't feel as drained as I usually do. They're moving the clinic to the far side of the city and "up the mountain", as we say here. Of course, that's the Niagara Escarpment, not a mountain, but we have delusions of grandeur.

The best part? I didn't have to get my finger poked. I hate that part. Oh! And I have really a high platelet count. Over 200 is good. Mine was over 300. Woo! This may very well be the thing fo me. I'll see how I feel over the next few days, and if it's all good, I'll do this instead of whole blood. Yay!