"No, your pee won't turn blue."

[rattfan]

I dealt with more medical stuff today than I had intended!  It was shot day, but I also needed to discuss my blood results with Dr S.  I thought we'd do so, I'd get more diet pointers, and I could relax.  Not so.  Cholesterol results were okay, but yeah, I do need to tweak the diet.  What stood out, though, was very low iron results.  I'd told him the previous week I was very tired, which had come on about a month ago, towards the end of my mother's two hospital admissions.

Always good to get an answer, but now I have to have an iron infusion, which is going to take place next week.  I hope they use the other arm, because Dr S also sent me to get a CT scan of pretty much everything that isn't my head or a limb.  I thought might as well get that done asap, since that means we can discuss those results when I show up to get the iron.  The scan involves them injecting the patient with iodine to get the pictures showing up more clearly, as the tech explained.  I can't think very clearly right now and may have confused iodine with indigo.  So no, my pee won't turn blue, but they insisted on stabbing me in the same arm as my blood test jab.

My enthusiasm was probably not noted.  It'll give you something to look forward to for Christmas, Dr S said, generously.  Much appreciated, says I.  The insincerity was mutual.  I think Dr S is of the same school of philosophy as I am.  You take entertainment where you can get it.  And let's not even go near the colonoscopy he's planning to make me have next year.

Comments

[leecetheartist]

The first time I did it I found the hard way that I am allergic to iodine contrast. "Hold still!"
"I'm trying to, but I can't stop retching!"

[rattfan]

Yeah, they asked me that and I wondered how I was supposed to find out. I'm not sure it was in the list of '28 most common' when I was tested for allergies. So, I just said no and fortunately the vomiting, it did not happen.

[leecetheartist]

Good!

[fred_mouse]

Iron deficiency sucks. I hope that the injection brings you back some energy. From memory it doesn't got in an arm though, but somewhere like the buttock, because of the way the body uses it.

[rattfan]

Oh, okay. Then they better use the other one of *those*! [EDIT] Though no, actually, the Patient Education sheet they gave me does say arm or back of hand. You may be thinking of the option to inject "intramuscular iron" into the muscle, as is done with Reandron. Says it's painful and should be avoided, but they may not have too many transmen as patients. Recommends the IV method.

[fred_mouse]

Interesting. I wonder if that is a change in practice. Or it might be, given that it was Youngest that had it, that different processes are recommended for different age groups -- they would have been, hmm, maybe 14?

[ariaflame]

I should probably find out whether the iron supplements in pill form have been doing anything for me. Can't tell from tiredness because that's just life right now with all the marking etc. I've got a referral for a test so it's time to find time to go visit the vampires. They all of course are closed on the weekends so I need to find some time outside of that. But it's not urgent and the marking is.

[ganimede]

My GP told me a few months ago that my cholesterol was a little raised. I was told just to increase my intake of good fats/oils and told to check the Heart UK website for suggestions which I did. One of the recommendations on this page was to have more seeds, particularly flax (linseed), pumpkin, chia and hemp seeds. I started adding a few pumpkin seeds to my breakfast every day and when I had another blood test, I was told that my cholesterol was the best it had been in 10 years! So that might be something to try.

[fred_mouse]

Ooh, an excuse to eat more pumpkin seeds :) I shall have to change my daily snack from sunflower (usual) and pumpkin (every now and then) to the other way around.

[ganimede]

Glad to be of assistance!  :)  

[rattfan]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go. Hemp seeds makes me think of marijuana plants, but I doubt they'd be recommended :-) I didn't like pumpkin last time I tried to eat it, many years ago, but perhaps just the seeds would be all right.

[ganimede]

Well, you'd be relaxed if nothing else! The seeds don't taste anything like pumpkin, they're very similar to sunflower seeds really. I have 2-3g every day and it's only about a dozen or so seeds.