Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Anaemia is a Weedy Word

There was a child, a pale skinny waif, often listless and prone to fainting spells.  Wearing a pair of glasses, braces on her teeth, and with an obsession to grow the few hairs on her head into a ratty pony tail.  Paint on a bookish streak and extreme shyness, and you've met me as a teenager.   

If I was a plant, I would be some rangy weed, grown tall and translucent for lack of light.

Anaemia is described in the dictionary as a condition resulting in pallor and weariness.  Suggested synonyms for 'anaemic' include colourless, washed out, sapped and peaky.

At some point I outgrew anaemia, as our wise GP suggested would be the case.  I swapped the glasses for contacts, shucked the braces and cut my hair.  But I'm convinced that it was finally being a grownup that made me feel great.

Lately I've caught that weedy teenager looking at me in the mirror.  Depressed, lacking energy and enthusiasm, crying at the drop of a hat.  I speculated that I'm either going crazy and need to be institutionalized, or dying of some incurable disease.  At the very least I must be having the worst case of mid-life crisis ever recorded.  So off to the same (and much older) wise GP.
He took one look at me and said "Young lady, you have anaemia!" 

Oh relief.  Just the young lady part made me feel better already.  So, I'm fixing the problem with an iron supplement and eating lots of green veggies.

Soon I will overcome my weedy condition, and this blog will no longer look so peaky. 

9 comments:

  1. Oh Megan,

    Your only concern should be getting back your strength and sparkle. Everything else can wait. Rest.

    Hugs

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    1. Was feeling peaky for quite a while, greatly relieved that this will not be my permanent condition! Thanks for being concerned, Joyce.

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  2. Hope you are feeling better soon. I heard of a herbal mixture recently that improves the blood count etc. It is called Essiat - it is a combination of lots of different herbs that you make into a tea. A 10grm bottle of herbs costs approx. R110 and you can make 1 lt from it. You need to drink 40mls a day. I am going to get some as soon as I find a Health Shop that sells it, as the only one here knows nothing about it. Good luck my friend am thinking of you.

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    1. A blood transfusion would be the immediate answer, but in this country I'm not convinced it's a good idea. At the moment I'm taking so much iron that I will probably stick to a magnet. The question is how much of it gets absorbed... There are some excellent herbal supplements that boost immunity and general health. haven't heard of Essiat, will check it out and let you know, Carol!

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    2. Hi Megan - hope you are feeling much better today. I googled the herbal remedy and the correct spelling is Essiac. It is just so scary as to what is put in our food nowdays. I saw the other day that you now get packets of "fresh" veges for toddlers. They are prepacked and ll you have to do is microwave them - how healthy. The other problem I have is that all the carrots etc that are cut into small shapes and balls are actually dipped in chlorine to keep them nicely coloured. Check out the packets when you shop again and see the white spots on them. That is the chlorine popping out.

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    3. When buying groceries one tries to avoid foods that have harmful additives. Then you walk past the ones that no longer have any nutritional benefit because they are processed or old. If you are like me, most of the food you eat will come from the garden, the farmers market, or the local greengrocer. Preparing food from scratch takes more effort and planning, and with modern farming methods it's still no guarrantee that you are getting all the nutrition you need, but we have to try!

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  3. Glad it is something you can fix with nutrition, lately I have become very aware of the fact that many of our modern day diseases are linked to nutrition, there are so much junk in our food these days, we are trying to go as organic and natural as we can...already a few things that were starting to bother me dissapeared...the worst of these a numb feeling in my right arm and leg....scary for an artist!

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  4. I'm sorry you are feeling weedy and Blue. I can tell you your certainly are not weedy at all. You are amazing. Get plenty of rest. be kind to yourself and be brave and have a new hair cut or dye your hair. go out on a limb and eat spinach and let the wind blow in your face.
    I hope you feel better soon.
    Big Hugs

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    1. Thank you for the encouragement, Kay. I'm trying not to be weedy, nobody likes a weedy whiner! The kind of business we are in, customers are attracted to us for our personality as much as what we are able to do. Feel like my magical powers have been taken away, which makes me worry, which makes me weedy... today I'm going to combat that feeling by not falling asleep sitting in my chair, and doing something awesome.

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