I’ve been sick AGAIN

Gosh I sure do get tired of being sick and tired! It’s enough to make a person start using curse words. I’m still not completely well but feeling better. It all started a year or so ago or maybe longer when I began feeling very tired. I blamed my being so tired on not enough sunshine and bad diet. I started taking naps everyday. I was following a diabetic diet but I wasn’t getting the right kinds of foods. Food bank food is to keep people alive, not healthy. At that time I craved and ate lots of ice. My NP told me it was due to my high A1C making me thirsty. This craving for ice and taking naps went on for a few months.

A couple of months ago I started craving popcorn as well as ice and I began taking not one but two or three naps each day. Each nap lasting one and a half or two hours. I still believed it was because of not getting the right foods and enough sunshine. We had days and days of clouds and / or rain. I also had intense itching on my back and legs. I didn’t make the connection to what was really happening with my body. I kinda thought I might simply need more liver in my diet because I needed it when I was a child. My morning sugar reading remained between 119 and 145.

I had mentioned to someone on one of my last blog posts about my intense craving for popcorn. The craving was getting worse. I was even waking in the middle of the night craving it. I was sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. Wake in the morning, take a morning nap, wake in the afternoon, take an afternoon nap, wake in the evening, take a nap before bedtime, wake to eat then go to bed early. Next day start over again. I was eating a little food but really didn’t have an apatite. When the weather changed to give us some days with sunlight I started feeling just a little better but the popcorn cravings continued.

About a month ago I awoke with a horrible ear ache and a tooth ache in a place where I don’t have teeth. I took Tylenol and used a heated rice pack on my ear. And, of course, I slept. I craved popcorn like crazy. It was getting more intense. I’d be in the kitchen making popcorn at two in the morning and going back to bed as soon as I’d eaten it. I ate meals but never felt satisfied until I’d also eaten a big pan of popcorn. Half a cup measure of it before popping.

My ear ache and tooth ache went away after about a week. I was sticking to my portion control meals by using the crockpot to cook. Thank goodness I had plenty of ingredients in my food storage to make chicken soup or beef stew while I slept. My daily morning sugar read fluctuated from high to low but despite that I thought I was doing good. I felt well enough to begin – yet again – to downsize stuff.

Well that didn’t last long. I came down with another ear ache the following week but no tooth ache. Again I took Tylenol and used the heated rice pack. After another week of self-doctoring I began feeling better. I managed to go to the grocery to buy some discount apples, a couple of discount salads, and of course, more popcorn. It was on sale. I bought four bags at two pound each. That’s 16 cups. I didn’t want to run out. This container holds 16 cups and has about one and one half cups left after ten days. That’s how much popcorn I was eating.

A couple weeks later the craving for popcorn grew so intense I barely ate regular foods. I had no apatite. The back and leg itching grew worse. I knew something was wrong and I needed to know what it was and what I could do about it. I put in a call for the NP but never got a call back. I started some online research about my strange craving for popcorn. I remembered I had strange cravings when I was a child but I didn’t make the connection to how I’ve been feeling lately. I found information about PICA. Pronounced “PIKE – ah”. People with PICA often crave non-edible things like paint chips or plaster or dirt.

I discovered that in my case it’s not full PICA but only a major lack of iron and zinc in my diet. From what I learned I was / am anemic. Yup, that makes since because as a child I was constantly becoming anemic and given liver to eat and regular doses of liquid iron with wine or orange juice. Liquid iron was awful tasting stuff. In my research I learned that taking metformin with vitamin B12 shots can cause anemia. I wonder why the NP never explained it or had me checked for that?

The symptoms of anemia and what I was feeling are: being tired or exhausted much more than usual (yes); loss of apatite (yes); itching on head, back, or legs (yes); problems concentrating (yes); numbness in hands or feet (yes); hair loss (yes); brittle nails (yes); desire to eat ice or popcorn or other odd food cravings (yes); desire to eat non-edible items such as chalk, paint chips, or dirt (no); shortness of breath for even simple tasks such as walking from one room to another (yes); leg cramps (yes); blue cast to the whites of eyes (no); and false high blood sugar readings on monitors despite controlled eating (yes). I’ve had all but two of these symptoms. Why has the NP never requested a complete CBC on me?

I went to the store to buy some iron tablets. I reasoned it couldn’t hurt to take one pill each day to see how I felt. At least it could rule out or confirm anemia. After about four days I was feeling less tired and no longer in need of multiple naps. My craving for popcorn grew less intense. Most of the itching has gone away. This morning I had only a faint craving for popcorn.

For my own health safety I need to figure out a new meal plan and come up with a way to buy the healthy foods I need on a tight budget. I want very much to get off the metformin! So my next project is to create a reverse menu plan and grocery list. I’ll post my progress along my journey.

Hugs from Kentucky, stay safe in all the bad weather.

Anita