All the Energy in the World *****An Update in the Life of Jennifer*****

Yes, it's been a long time since I've posted anything anywhere.  As the semester winds down I get even busier than usual with various tests and papers.  Also, we are in the process of moving into a new house.  We close on Wednesday.  It's been over a year since we started the process of selling our old house and buying a new one.  This all started right when the economy started to take a dive and it's been quite the rollercoaster ride.  I have absolutely no intention of doing that again any time in the near future.  Also, I have vowed to have no excitement until the papers are signed and I have keys in my hand. 

I recently discovered that I have an auto-immune disease called pernicious anemia.  Apparently at some point a gene got switched on that caused my stomach cells to start attacking one another, destroying the lining that produces intrinsic factor, thus making my body unable to absorb B12 through food or vitamin supplements.  I will now need B12 shots for the rest of my life at least once a month.  It has been a long journey to arrive at this diagnosis.  I have been, for years, becoming more and more tired in my every day life.  Even with all the stuff I have going on, I felt I was unreasonably tired.  I also was having a lot of joint pain and had developed sciatica.  I had pleurisy not too long ago as well.  My doctor had said they could find nothing wrong with me, but that they may consider testing me for Lupus.  However, no test was ever done and I continued to feel worse and worse.  People were telling me that it was either stress or just all in my head.  I started to think perhaps I was going crazy.  I finally decided that I needed to find someone who could tell me what was wrong with me because I KNEW that what I was feeling was not normal.  I went to an internist because I have always read that they are the best diagnostic doctors.  The internist immediately saw that I had a low white cell count in my last blood test done by my primary care doctor and so she took 8 vials of my blood and ran all kinds of tests.  They discovered the B12 deficiency, so they ran a couple of other tests and discovered that in fact I will never be able to absorb B12 normally.  I had no idea this condition even existed.

We usually think of anemia as being a condition in which our blood is lacking iron and where we have a low red cell count.  This type of anemia is not like that.  My red cells are not healthy because they are lacking in oxygen due to the low B12.  It causes fatigue and also starts to cause nerve damage (thus the sciatica and joint pain and the tingling I get in my fingers and toes), which may or may not ever get better.  The fatigue though will (hopefully) be much better once I start treatment.  I truly felt vindicated when I got the diagnosis.  I am not happy that I have a disease, but it is treatable and THAT I am happy for and I am happy that it is not a much worse disease.  It is unlikely that I have Lupus as the tests that they did for that condition came up negative for me, and 90% of people with Lupus come up positive on those tests. 

That's what has been going on with me.  I start treatment next week the day before closing on my house.  Busy, busy schedule!  I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday.  Also, I promise to write more on Voodoo House once things slow down!