Honey Badger Has Fallen and She Can't Get Up

Honey Badger gives a shit. Honey Badger doesn't really want to eat anything right now. She worked out for a little bit and now she's stuck on the floor listening to dubstep. Honey Badger is tired and she just wants to take a shower and go to sleep.

So as I mentioned earlier today, it turns out I have a B12 Deficiency. My shrink complimented me this evening on my "detective work" to find that out. He asked me what prompted me to Google my blood test results. I told him "If I get a test back that says 'abnormal' for anything then I'm going to find out what that means and why it's like that. It's not like I WebMD-ed myself into having Crohn's disease. The stuff that came up was all things I've heard before that doctors had been watching." He said he wished all patients paid more attention to those things.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised more people don't heed medical warnings and advice about a variety of things. I finally listened to my doctor and quit smoking. I listened to my doctor and have been lowering my sodium intake. I gain a few pounds and my doc tells me to watch my fat intake, I cut it and drop the weight. She recommends these things for my benefit, health, and overall well-being, not her own. If I down large containers of salt, gain 100 lbs, smoke like a chimney, and die from a massive coronary and or stroke then it's really no skin off her nose. Obviously she cares and would be sad if I died... But probably not that sad considering if I'd taken her advice then I'd theoretically still be alive.

Anyway, my shrink is now holding off on renewing my antidepressants because he agreed that I may not need them anymore. He remembered how much better I'd felt last year when I started taking B12 at the advice of a friend after giving up coffee for Lent. Wish I'd known at the time that was why so I could've kept taking them. I'd stopped my antidepressants because I was exhibiting overdose symptoms. Since B12 deficiency causes depression among other things, he thought it best we wait to see if that makes a difference like it did last year. YaY for me. That's one less medication I have to take.

Now, the only problem right now is I feel like ass on a stick. I actually didn't feel this tired before I started taking the supplements. My doctor advised me to take 1,000mg but that didn't feel like it was doing anything. I've been taking 2,000mg instead and it's helping a little.. just not enough. I have a feeling I'm cruising for shots... which does not sound like fun to me. 

I believe I got this deficiency as a result of my ulcer and acid reflux issues I got from popping ibuprofen like candy for years while they tried to figure out that I have 2 ruptured discs in my neck. If that's the reason then I can't produce the intrinsic factor that breaks down the B12 in my body.. meaning I could pop this whole bottle of B12 and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference because my body just can't absorb it.

Either way, I'm exhausted so I will continue catching y'all up tomorrow.

Random Story of the Day: My Arm Is Tired of Being Violated

I'm feeling very tired this evening. Every time I go to the doctor, I keep leaving feeling like a giant pin cushion. Look at my arm. It looks like I either got attacked by a small-mouthed vampire or a very large-mouthed bat.. or like I'm a junkie... none of which are good things.

Today was a follow-up for my bronchitis. Apparently I still have a low grade fever.. YAY for me. I told her I had a few questions based on Googling the results of my blood test from my physical last month. There were some things that were slightly too low and others that were slightly too high. The combination of these blood things indicate, according to Google, one or more of the following... a possible iron deficiency, slight anemia, and/or a thyroid issue. 

Now I'm not a hypochondriac so I wouldn't have brought it up if I hadn't heard these things mentioned as possible issues multiple times over the past 15 years. Any one of these things can be contributing to my honey badger binge eating. Thyroid problems, both hyper and hypo, run in my family and my mom recently found out she had some issues with hers so this is something I actually need to look out for. My doctor agreed.So more blood had to be taken in order to check for these issues along with a possible B-12 deficiency. 

Well, I did some more Googling and low and behold, it turns out there is such a thing called "Iron Deficiency Anemia". Sounds super serious right? It's really not. It just means I need to eat more things that are rich in heme iron (iron more easily absorbed into the body from meat) and take more Vitamin C to help my body absorb it easier. Non heme iron is good too (iron from enriched products like certain cereals and veggies)

So back to Walmart I went in search of iron rich foods including a large package of salmon, smoked oysters, and some Honey Nut Cheerios. I feel like I'm draggin ass some days and I think it's because I need more of iron. I've been keeping my food diary again pretty religiously and I know I wasn't getting nearly enough protein until recently. *Fingers crossed* these little diet changes will make the difference. I'll keep ya'll posted.