Anemia: Iron Out the Facts

My sister (your financial blogger) and I enjoy the mutual torture of one another by introducing (ok…maybe forcing) each other to participate in exercises at which the other, to be honest, completely sucks. I was introduced to a bunch of yogis (and my CORE) during my last visit to Utah. They are a pleasant brood, but why someone would want to hold strange (and distressing) pretzel positions for long periods of time, muscles burning and trembling like plucked guitar strings, is beyond me. With smiles on their faces and legs straight out in front of them, they all reach for their toes and kiss their knees. Dude. My hammies aren’t that long, and diaphragm is trapped in there. I. CAN’T. BREATHE.

But the next day, my sister gets to ditch the mat and actually put ON some shoes for a little respiratory therapy. Coming from the Maryland humidity, my lungs LOVE the dry Utah air, and our run/walk interval session commences. Five minutes in, I am thinking I will need yoga neck stretches later that day from frequently turning around to find out where the heck my sister is. She has crapped out halfway up a gentle incline and has reverted to a yoga half-fold at the waist, hands on her knees. “I. CAN’T. BREATHE.” Not the first time this has happened. And I start throwing out respiratory anatomy and physiology to attempt to convince her that it’s all in her head. Yes. I am THAT sister.

Since that time, my sister has received two different medical diagnoses that made me think twice. With her permission, I will share that she has sleep apnea. This means she has brief periods during the night where her airway gets blocked and she is unable to breathe in and out. Her body compensates by unknowingly waking her and making her reposition so she can breathe again. While this isn’t fun, hers is a mild condition that does disrupt some sleep with some oxygen deprivation at night. Her second diagnosis is much more concerning, as her bloodwork showed that she is anemic.

Anemia is known to the layperson as “low iron”. But this term literally means “without blood” and is used to refer to any condition that lowers the number of cells that carry oxygen through the blood. My sister’s iron levels were extremely low. Iron acts as a “shuttle” in the blood, as it picks up oxygen that we inhale into the lungs, binds itself to red blood cells, and then drops it off again in body tissues.  My earlier blogs in support of American Heart Month mentioned the importance of good heart health so the necessary blood, oxygen, and nutrients can be delivered to the organs. Well, the heart can be functioning perfectly, but if oxygen can’t jump on the shuttle to be transported to the tissues, you will still have problems, as my sister did.

 Whoa. I didn’t need a yoga stretch to put my foot in my mouth on that one!

She’s been taking iron supplements and increasing iron-rich foods, like meats, poultry, fish, some legumes, and green leafy veggies. Her iron levels have taken some time to recover, but she is over the moon excited that she can actually jog a slight incline and not be completely out of breath.

Looks like I need to have a sit-down meeting with my diaphragm and my hamstrings and step up my yoga game, so I can keep up with my sister and…

Be Well!

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