Oh rats, I'm nutritionally wacked out again!
And, it's despite my near-excessive dairy consumption, supplementing with chewable Calcium and D softchews (chocolate flavored!), taking a multivitamin with extra iron, and eating a lot of iron heavy greens blended into sauces and shakes.
I just got labs back that say that my vitamin D2 and D3 levels are outragiously low. As is my Iron.
This explains why I've been so draggy and mentally foggy lately. While my B12 levels were fine because I inject it weekly, without Iron and B vitamins together you still become anemic. So, I was missing the other half of the red blood cell generating equation.
Vitamin D is so much more than just a nutrient necessary for healthy bones. It actually functions as a steroid hormone, and is involved in the repair of tissue and differentiation of cells, neuromuscular functioning, and inflammation.
Both of these are extremely important nutrients for anyone, especially if you are involved in strenuous physical activities.
Sadly, it seems that despite my best efforts I am not absorbing them well enough. Tomorrow I am going to call and see if I can be put in for an iron infusion appointment soon, which I have had to resort to in the past.
This project is about the adventures of a guy who loves to bicycle. I also happen to have Crohn's disease, and later complications from it, which required me to have emergency ileostomy surgery in July of 2009. I'm hoping to show that having guts doesn't require guts! And, that life with a chronic illness can still be pretty awesome, despite the challenges. And maybe, just maybe, in the process I'll make some sense of the happenings of my life.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi there. How are you now feeling? Hopefully, your levels are balanced and you're feeling "normal" again.
ReplyDeleteMy levels are totally messed up and it's mostly due to the fact that I have had inflammation for so long now, that I have scar tissue and malabsorption issues. It sucks. Get the NOW Brand of the D3 in 5000IU and take 2 pills a day. Trust me, it's not too much vitamin D, especially if you're deficient.
You can tolerate oral iron supplements? Not me. My goodness , iron pills make me flare horribly, so I get iron infusions about every 3 months or so. I am going to look into the nanoparticle iron that does not get absorbed or touch the intestinal track. It would be a lot less costly than having to get the iron sucrose infusions.
Well, just wanted to say hello and hoping you are having some good, healthy days :) bye bye
Hey, how's it going? Thanks for dropping a line!
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly been a rough year so far with wacked out nutrition and electrolytes! I am fortunate enough to have not had any real inflammation in my small intestine, but I am missing all of my large intestine, which means I am incredibly malabsorptive in general. It's a pain. It screws up any attempted dosage calculations, for pretty much everything.
I've been doing a chewable D suppliment actually, since the more I can break things down and increase surgace area early on, the better. And, I just switched to Iron infusions - although am having scheduling issues. Ugg...
Nanoparticle iron? wow, I'd not heard of such things. Interesting. Hmmm...
Regardless of all of the deficiencies and minor setbacks, I'm enjoying the early spring weather and training/racing goes on! Can't wait to race at Penn State next weekend!
:-)
Are you a cyclist as well? Regardless, here's wishing you good health and a great spring!