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649848 tn?1534633700

Sunday Weigh In December 22, 2019

Good morning... how are we today?  It's starting to calm down in my world and it even looks like Christmas (minus the snow...lol).   I've had my tree up for a while now, but it sat with no decorations and no gifts under it for a while.  I belong to a Calligraphy guild and we had a Christmas luncheon last week.  A couple of the ladies made some beautiful ornaments with an alcohol ink and they didn't want to keep them, so I got a few of those for my tree.  They inspired me to go ahead and finish decorating.  :-)   I had my shopping done and once the decorations were on, I was finally inspired to get busy and get things wrapped and under the tree.  Of course, the fact that we're actually having Christmas today, with my daughter and her family helped with the inspiration.  Nothing like running out of time to get inspired, is there?  

Anyway, it's one of those divorce situations in which my granddaughter lives with my daughter and spends vacations with her father, so we do holidays however it works out best.  We've learned to be flexible that way.  :-)

So... this past week has been busy, but not a horrible week.  I've just spent it getting things ready as everyone else is doing so I'm sure my preparations aren't a lot different.  Yesterday was the most hectic as I had lots to get done.  My neighbor and I have tried something different this year... we've tried a different church for each Sunday through December and today's service starts at 10:00.  My challenge was to everything ready to go in the oven that needs to before I leave and/or have things ready to pop in (or set on the stove) as soon as I get home.  On top of that, I made 11 dozen cookies yesterday afternoon/last night. Busy?  Yeah, a little.

I've kept up with my walking most days, but for some reason my weight isn't budging (I ate 2 small cookies last night).  I just realized that I didn't record a weight last week, but on Thursday, I was down 0.6 lbs from a couple of weeks ago... That's still up 7 lbs from my low point back in May just before my MIL passed away.  That 10 days we spent in Iowa eating frozen pizza and burgers is when I gained 5 lbs and have not been able to drop it, plus I've gained a couple more, but fluctuate so much, it's hard to tell for sure.  I'll weigh in a little while and see where I am for today.

I just did blood work last week and am waiting for results so I'm interested in seeing how my thyroid panel turns out.  My thyroid levels have been going down over time, but as I've said previously, my doctor refuses to increase my thyroid med because I'm still in range.  

I'm extremely tired and dealing with a very low heart rate.  When I saw my cardiologist last week, we discussed this and he wants a nuclear stress test, which is tomorrow.  In addition, when they did pre-op blood work last month, my RBC was low, indicating some type of anemia, which would help explain the fatigue.  If it's iron deficiency, that would also explain dropping thyroid levels since iron is necessary for proper metabolism of thyroid meds.

So there are still health issues to deal with but that's all for after later. Today, I'm enjoying an early Christmas.  :-)

I hope your week turned out exactly the way you planned and look forward to hearing about it.

~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~
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134578 tn?1693250592
The link might be as simple as when tired, it's easy to get low emotionally too, but I think there might be more to it than that. Anyway, keeping at it (fighting off anemia) seems to me to help my stamina, especially at this busy time of the year.
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You're right - when we're tired, we don't feel like doing our normal things, so that does tend to make us feel emotionally low, which has something to do with it.  No doubt that fighting off anemia will help your stamina.  I think this time of year is especially important, partially because of how busy people are and also because in many parts of the country/world, it's so cold, it takes more energy to get things done.  

I did my nuclear stress test today.  I'm not sure how the pictures, EKG and all that turned out but I know I did the treadmill portion well.  I even had the 2 ladies administering the test cheering me through the last 20 seconds of it, which seemed to go on forever... lol  One of them said I did better than she did and she's only in her 30's so I guess that's pretty good... the problem was I was very weak and light headed by the time it was done.  One of them had to move behind me at the treadmill in case I fell and they had to help me down because I was dizzy.  It didn't help that I'd not been able to eat/drink (except for a couple swallows of water to take my meds this morning) since 7:30 last night, so I was not only very hungry, I was also dehydrated.  

I got my blood work back from the labs I did last week.  My RBC is in the low normal range.  It's odd that this one would be normal and the pre-op one, last month would be low.  I realize that it's different labs and they use different methods, etc, they shouldn't be that far off.  

I think I might consider getting some iron and giving it a try.  I'm exhausted after just doing the stress test today...
134578 tn?1693250592
Hi, Barb, it's interesting ... I've been taking iron, not every day but more than once a week. Every time I go to give blood, they accept it but tell me I'm near borderline in terms of anemia. I am also beginning to think there is a link between low iron and depression, but even if there isn't, I do notice I'm not as tired when I take it. I take it with vitamin C. Would there be any harm in you just starting to take it on the suspicion that you are anemic, even without a doctor saying so, to see if you notice a positive effect?

I weighed this morning and find I am .2 of a pound less than last week. Given that yesterday was the Cookie Bake (sixteen family members showed up -- we baked a boatload of cookies and didn't stint on the tasting) I'm super pleased. It could have been such a gain.

Today we have two family parties to attend, a brunch and an afternoon party. But then there is a little break (a day and a half) in which I can get the dog to the dog wash and do last-minute shopping. Then we're on again for two more parties.  My poor son woke me up last night at about 2 am to tell me he's distraught about his Christmas gift, over the fear that he will change his mind about what he wants. I can't tell  him that we're planning to give him what will be (to him) an eye-popping amount of cash for that very reason (he really changes his mind a lot at Christmas). He's getting the gift this year of learning that if you have x dollars, you can either buy the one costly electronic thing you've been eyeing, or several other things, but not both. I think he would learn more (about his tendency to fix on one thing and then change his mind and want another) if he did blow some of the money. Regret is a good teacher if followed by analysis of how you got to the place where you're regretful. Anyway, I think I'll write him a note and put it on his bedside table this morning saying "Don't worry about changing your mind about your present, I've got it covered. Santa"

Hope your week is great! Merry Christmas!

Annie
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1 Comments
I don't know of a direct link between iron deficiency and depression, but indirectly, I'd agree that there could/would be a link, because iron deficiency causes other body processes to be off and malfunctions of those processes are certainly linked to depression/anxiety.  

Anemia is one of the main causes of fatigue/tiredness.  Iron and B-12 are necessary for the formation of red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout the body and if we're anemic, we don't have enough red blood cells, therefore out cells don't get enough oxygen.    The thyroid is another process that depends on iron to function properly and both hyper and hypo can cause depression/anxiety.

It wouldn't really hurt to take iron without a doctors direction and I may end up doing it but because of my thyroid issue and other medical problems, I typically prefer to get baseline readings before I start taking supplements, like iron, that can build in the system, so I know where I'm starting and what I'm targeting.

It's great that you take your iron with Vitamin C because Vitamin C helps the body absorb the iron better.  Keep doing that whenever you take iron.  

I think a lot of kids run into the problem of changing their minds about their Christmas gifts, don't they?  I know my kids did, too when they were young.  Christmas is a good time for them to learn decision making, that's for sure.  :-)   When ours got older, we typically, gave them cash, as well because they liked to go shop and buy their own stuff.  It made them feel grown up to get things they wanted.

Your noted on your son's table would probably make him feel more comfortable with whatever you're giving him for Christmas.  

We had our Christmas this afternoon, so for all practical purposes, we're done.  My grandson that we hadn't seen in 2+ yrs came, even though he overslept and arrived late - better late than never.  My daughter was thrilled because she hadn't seen him in that time either.  I think there was only one time that anyone came close to getting angry and that was my husband... he gets pretty touchy these days, but that's some things going on just with him. I diffused the situation and since his memory isn't great, he forgot about it quickly.   I can safely declare the day a success, although he may decide tomorrow that it was really bad... lol

Your cookie backing sounds like a lot of fun.  I wish my family were close enough to be able to do that, but since we all live in separate states (other than my daughter), it simply doesn't work out.  I'm glad you can do it though.  

I hope your parties turned out well today and have a Merry Christmas...
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