Friday, November 14, 2008

Is it over yet??

Most people are happy when Friday finally gets here. I sometimes share this joy, despite being a stay-at-home mom. The weekends mean FUN with my kids! And...help from the hubby. Which I don't get much of during the week because of his two jobs. (Not complaining here, just letting you all know why the heck I'm hardly able to do the same online stuff I used to do anymore!) But I am especially glad that the week is finally over because maybe, just maybe, my personal miseries will come to an end, too.

The first of these is a severe iron deficiency I had yesterday. It was AWFUL. I have had problems with iron deficiency for as long as I can remember and I'm SUPPOSED to take iron supplements every day. But sometimes I forget. And forget. And forget. Yesterday morning, I DID remember them, but then I got busy and forgot again! GAH! So of course I ended up getting very sick from iron deficiency. I had the worst dizziness in the world. I honestly felt like I was going to pass out. I could hardly walk and my vision was a little blurry. The dizziness stopped a bit then started up again, this time reverberating through my head like the waves of an ocean.

And it all happened while hubby was at work and I was alone with the kids!

Thankfully, it happened close to bedtime, so soon I had them bathed and in bed. (It took an ENORMOUS effort to stay focused enough to give them their baths AND carry my baby to the towel I had laid out for him.) But after they were in bed, I was in agony. I was going between dizziness and pain in my head. I had no strength to walk and could barely focus.

With the symptoms as bad as they were, I had to wonder if it was indeed iron deficiency we were dealing with here, as my husband had guessed, and not something else. I started to worry a little that I was focusing too much on iron deficiency when it could be something worse that I really SHOULD dial 911 for. I thought on that. It just made sense it was indeed low iron, though, because lately I have been abnormally overtired and sluggish. I was so wiped out that I started drinking energy drinks and while they DID work, they made me VERY irritable and jumpy, so I had to stop drinking them. So in my reflecting, I decided it had to be the low iron.

You would think I would've tried taking an iron supplement by now, but guess what?? They were EXPIRED! ARGH! I had been texting my husband the whole time and it wasn't long before my messages had a lot of typos. He ended up coming home from work early, which I was grateful for. He got me into bed and told me to signal him with the lamp if I needed him. (I need to get a Bat signal thingy. LOL)

So this morning, even though I still felt a little sluggish, I got new iron supplements from the store. Now the normal dosage of iron for women is 18 mg. A little more for iron-deficient women is fine. (The one I got is 28 mg.) But I saw one there for....325 MILLIGRAMS!! WHAT THE WHAT! That is pretty high. Yeowch. Too much iron ingestion in one day is VERY bad and could be toxic. Sooo...I don't know if that is safe to have as an OTC. You know, I'm just SAYIN'.

Anyway, the SECOND thing that happened was today. See, I'm supposed to have dental surgery, to have FOUR wisdom teeth removed. They have been giving me bad pain on and off but today has been the WORST of it. The pain was in the entire upper and lower left side of my mouth. Gums and teeth. It's been hurting so bad and hubby is picking up some kind of pain relief stuff for my teeth from the store tonight. First thing Monday morning, I am scheduling an appointment for the surgery to have those teeth extracted. (Now, see, my husband is not the only one in this house who puts stuff off!) I've just been so conscientious about how much it will cost but my husband has encouraged me to REALLY get this done. I have also been scared of what kind of prescription painkillers they will likely prescribe afterwards. I just don't handle that stuff very well. It makes me sick and knocks me off my feet. Which is why I'm gonna try to schedule it as close to the weekend as possible.

Still, it hasn't been easy dealing with the pain. I'll just have to hang in there a little longer.

My only hope is that the end of the week will mean the end of any OTHER little health-related surprises.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww Dawn I feel for ya, dental woes are the worst. Well when my hubby had his wisdom teeth pulled they gave him some kind of heavy duty painkiller which caused him to break out in a rash all over his body. So then they gave him Tylenol 3 and that worked just fine and no loopy side effects. See if they will give you that.

I wonder if you dizziness and headache could have to do with your teeth. When my hubby had his wisdom teeth removed, he originally went to the Dr for bad headaches and dizziness! They promptly sent him to the dentist!
Still taking an iron supplement cant hurt so take your vitamins woman!
:-)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

oops I posted my comment twice, I wonder how that happened? Well I removed it so if you're wondering who removed their comment, it was just my duplicate comment.

Dawn Wilson said...

LOL Thanks. :) Yes, I'm taking them. Just gotta remember to. That's interesting about the headaches and dizziness. Never suspected that! Thanks for letting me know about Tylenol 3! I'll be sure to ask for it.