Que Sara Sara

I’ve been anemic since I started my monthly cycles at 16yo. My male GP at the time said I was fine and everything was normal. Well, that was not true. I hemorraged for 3 months straight, nothing for 3 months, another 3 months hemorrhaging, and so the cycle went until I got on birth control at the age of 22 and started seeing a female GP. Birth control made the cycles more predictable and manageable, but still too much for that week. It made me exhausted, irritated all the time, and I was miserable.

Not until I was 39 (2017) did a doctor call for a complete metabolic panel that included iron testing. They were testing my tsh for m bad thyroid. My ferritin was incredibly low. Like, a 5ng. The low end of normal is 20ng. I had a series of 3 infusions of ferritin, which only the needle hurts, the infusion itself just makes me cold and I have to pee after. It took 4 hours.

Now it’s 5 years later. I’ve had many infusions. I had a hysterectomy in October 2021, so no more menstrual cycles. My hematologist tested my iron in December ’21, and this past June. Iron itself and hemoglobin were fine. Great. Why am I so exhausted? Last night I was looking through my apps, because some I just done use or need. I was like, oh yeah, this is my health insurance. I’ll keep that. Oh, this one is the hospital my hematology is linked to. I checked my results. Iron and hemoglobin were fine. But my ferritin (remember it should be 20ng+) was 11ng. What?!! And back in December it was 14ng. I remember calling the dr about that in January or so and he said not to worry about it. We’ll, now it’s even lower and I’m tired aaaaall the damn time.

I messaged my GP this morning. I want a referral to a local hematologist. (My current one is an hour and 15 minutes away.) The communication between the two hospitals, because they are not in the same network, is abhorrent. So, it makes sense to switch. My health is at risk. School (work) starts back up tomorrow (Thur), so I need to be on my game and I currently don’t want to do anything. I’m too tired. This needs to get taken care of right away.