Thursday, February 11, 2010

Endless Wake-up Call





I posted something about my wake-up call five years ago. I somehow succeeding in waking up. I lost some excess weight and ate healthier. However, the stress just got to me and since I'm an emotional eater, I gained back the pounds that I lost.

A couple of months ago. I got a trainer to help me lose the weight. It was fine for awhile but my fitness instructor prompted me to go to the doctor when I've been experiencing dizzy spells during our work-out. At first I thought it was because of the food that I ate or the gym but even if we addressed those factors, the dizziness won't go away and it was so frustrating for the both of us as I could not push myself as much as I would want. I've worked out in the past and this was the first time that it happened.

On Friday last week, I went to the doctor who prescribed me to have a stress test and blood test. The stress test revealed negative but when I saw the blood test, I just deflated.

In my 2005 wake-up call, it was my cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid levels that were beyond the normal levels. In this blood test, there were more findings. Though the cholesterol and sugar levels are normal, my triglycerides and uric acid levels are high and my HIBA1C level (related to sugar) are a bit over the normal range. However, it was not that that caused my dizziness. A complete blood count showed that my hemoglobin levels were low. Hemoglobin is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in our red blood cells (thank you Wikipedia). In layman terms, it means that the oxygen in my blood is low. Basically, I have iron deficiency anemia.

What adds to the frustration is that the food that I can eat contradicts each other. For my anemia, friends have advised me to eat liver; but then that's a big no-no for my uric; for the cholesterol, I should eat oatmeal and veggies but then oatmeal is not good for my uric and there are some veggies that have high purine content. And the list just goes on and on.

I hope to see my doctor this weekend so I can really know what to do. I'm just lost right now and I miss my exercise. I really want to lose weight and be healthy again!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow...seems like you have narrated my story....i am 39 and always in control of my weight and everything else-but collapsed few days back, was rushed to the ER..i felt that i was dying, my heart and lungs were failing me...turned out i am borderlibe sugar, anemic (8,5) etc....i am also in a delimma like u cause i cant eat foods like beet, dates for anemia because they are high in sugar, so i am going to consult with a nutritionist now...i have to get my cholestrol and uric acid levels checked too and heaven help, if they are positive....:( i guess life after 35 is a ride down the road...:( thanks for your post, i could immediately relate to it and felt better...

good luck...

Sunshine said...

thanks for leaving a note. appreciate sharing your health stories as well. hope you can continue doing so we can learn from each other.

good luck with your tests as well.