I posted on Facebook recently that I had gotten an iron infusion to help with my anemia. But I didn’t talk about was how I was originally diagnosed and why it took so long to fix. 

Two and a half years ago our church hosted a blood drive. Before the Red Cross takes your blood, they do a little fingerpick and run a test. My sample was rejected. In other words, my blood was not suitable for sick people. So the next time I saw my doctor, I ask them to give me a blood test. All of my iron indicators were down, hemoglobin, ferritin, etc. I was diagnosed as anemic. I had been feeling pretty tired for a long time and had mentioned it. They had acted like that was a normal state for busy, middle-aged, slightly overweight women. 

“My doctor” is an old phrase. I had a primary care physician, that quit maybe six years ago, and since then I have been bounced around. I had a new doctor I saw once, but then my husband’s work insurance changed and our network switched along with the electronic charting system. I was assigned another PCP, but they were in a different town. So, if I needed medical care, the schedulers just picked a random medical person, a Nurse Practitioner or Physicians Assistant to deal with whatever symptom was presenting. 

They clocked the low FE and prescribed iron supplements. Those made me constipated. Another medical professional gave me a different compound. I got a virtual meeting with a naturopath and he prescribed vitamin C and yogurt. Apparently, you need C to absorb iron and the yogurt was to help improve bacteria in my gut. Then, I received a letter saying he was released from our plan. Bye friend. 

I had gotten to the point where I was just going to bed after dinner every night. I felt exhausted all the time. My friends sent me videos about hormones and I got a prescription for estrogen that helped with the hot flashes and night sweats. I intermittent fasted down to a healthier weight, but still was tired. All. The. Time.

Finally, I got an appointment with my actual Primary in January and my bloodwork showed zero improvement. It had been two years since the initial diagnosis. She prescribed an iron infusion. There weren’t any available time for our area until June, six months away. I asked about outside of our area and there was one an hour south near Salem in March. I took it. I have been testing each month since then and am only now feeling just a hint better. 

I attribute this whole mess to several factors. First, the insurance barrier to medical care is a nightmare. We pay tens of thousands every year and they are financially rewarded for keeping us from accessing care. Second, it is less standard to have one doctor assigned to each family that they see regularly to establish a baseline of health. Instead, they call a grab bag of providers a team, but it’s a game of telephone at best.