I'll admit to having a touch of hypochondria. I like to pick a disease or even better a syndrome with really vague symptoms and go with it. For example, feeling some pain in my leg, I must have fibromyalgia; a headache, a brain tumor. My favorite disease is alopecia, which means hair loss. As ET#2, A and W, my college suite mates can attest to, I am obsessed with the fact that I am balding. When I was 10, I had so much hair it would not even fit in a rubberband. Now a mini scrunchy can go around it several times. Every night I get really sad when I see the huge clump of hair I have caught in the shower trap. One time I read a person loses an average of fifty hairs a day. So I counted the hairs and found 102!
In the few minutes in which I am not completely self involved, I try to be a good citizen. Two weeks ago the good deed was to donate a pint of blood. To prepare for the event, I loaded up on steak and leafy greens to boost my hemoglobin. Normally, I am a tad anemic, and this fact is based on blood work and medical doctor's assessment not just my own insanity. When the nurse said my hemoglobin was 12.5, right at the cutoff, I was very proud of myself. I donated my pint, drank plenty of fluids, and felt fine. They warned me that I might feel a little shortness of breath, fatigue, and dizzy. But I felt none of these things. However, I have been losing an inordinate amount of hair. Could the two be linked?
Of course not. Well maybe. People who are anemic, are slightly more prone to alopecia, which will go away after a change in diet. After much research, I decided to add B12 and iron supplements to my daily regiment of holistic crap. Will this make a difference? Probably not. But for now, I am satisfied with the solution. Wait, I do have this weird mole on my arm....
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