Thursday 21 June 2012

Oh the Iron-eee.....

So I've been doing CrossFit for about three months and I must say that a) i am addicted and b) it works. I've never been in such good physical condition. Which is amazing given that my iron is at an all-time low.
In February last year I had a pretty severe spell of depression. I was living in France at the time and I ended up seeing an English-speaking psychotherapist. She was bloody awful but she did have the wisdom to recommend I get my thyroid and my iron levels checked as they are frequently connected to depression.
So I did. My iron was below the threshold for anaemia and without trying to investigate why (perhaps the two caesareans in two years, breastfeeding two babies in two years, history of endometriosis and PCOS etc etc), the French doctor decided that I should just take delicious constipaty iron tablets for six months, bugger off back to the imaginary land I came from and make it all someone else's problem. 
The iron levels climbed slightly and then declined. I was rather tired of black poo so I decided that I wouldn't bother taking the tablets and would try some needles in the bum.  After three in quick succession I found out the iron had actually managed to DEcrease. Ugh.  So next Thursday I am off to Cabrini Day Oncology to get hooked up to an iron IV.
Turns out that it's really bloody hard to do strenuous exercise without any iron. And I've been doing CrossFit 4-6 times a week. So I guess that's why I've called this blog tough little mother. 'Cos I bloody well am.
Have you had your iron checked lately?

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