Moving on

Cherryfudge

I looked back on the surgery site and found the thyroid test is due in May as is cholesterol and liver function and whatever else they do. I had asked if I could have an extra cholesterol check in the autumn to see how the changed medication is doing, but never got round to it.

After yesterdays' weather - cold, wet and very windy, March going out like a lion - today is sunny and no forecast of rain. I can see it's breezy: the forecast says about 20mph windspeed. There is bedding in the washing machine right now.

I have the day off so there's a lot of cleaning and tidying needing to be done, and looking ahead to the week we're starting. An atypical week so I need to keep track.

Monday - DH nurse appointment

Tuesday - Childcare, DH consultant appointment and they've asked for me to attend, presumably because when he's feeling low, it's hard to find words for things. This will be to discuss further treatment for the chronic condition that's been flaring. It's not settled yet but has improved. We don't know for sure, but the GP thinks the mental health aspect could be a reaction to the tablets he was taking for it. In the evening, I'm working from 6.

Wednesday - DGD3's birthday, though celebration is later. Probably a good day to fit in church cleaning as Friday is busy. Also to prepare the session for Sunday. Work from 5-7 then church group.

Thursday -No work in the afternoon but three hours in the evening. Make cakes for DGD3's party.

Friday - Good Friday service followed by DGD3's birthday party.

Saturday - DH's family get-together. We plan to set off early to be at DS2's and travel down with them.

Sunday - I'm doing the children's session in the morning.

Just as well I looked at those as there's quite a lot to fit in.

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942625#Comment_81942625

Thanks for this - yes, I probably need to take more ownership of my readings! I hate taking iron supplements, as many of us do, but I've not been making much effort to add it to our diet.

ladybird1106

I’ve always had problems with iron tablets due to their non intended effects. However after speaking to a pharmacist they said to take them with orange juice as it aids absorption and helps with the above issue. I found holl&bar iron with vit c tablets good.
love 🐞

Laura_Elsewhere

Mr E has to take iron supplements (and intriguingly when he started, his problem snoring stopped literally that night… a few months later, he ran out and didn't bother buying more (typical man!) and his snoring returned at problem levels… guess what happened when he went back on them? So potentially low iron levels could make you tired because you're sleeping worse, as well as the rest).

Anyway, we ended up reading up on all sorts of things, and if it helps, this is what we do, and why.

He takes ferrous sulphate iron, which is available in shops and online, prescription-free. It's not the usual iron supplement, and seems not to have the renowned side-effects of constipation! They are Ferrous sulphate 200milligrams.

Iron is best absorbed when taken alongside Vitamin C, and alongside a source of animal protein if possible.

Avoid tea or coffee or other sources of caffeine or tannins, for a couple of hours either side of the iron tablet.

We now have 'afternoonses' when we take tablets, because various meds work best with food but without a full meal (!), so we have a small homemade sausage roll each (literally tiny, an inch or so; I make them and freeze them, and we ping them hot from frozen), a small 150ml glass of pineapple juice and our assorted tablets.

hth :)

Also, do look at your diet if you can- if you eat an imaginary 100 units of iron as animal-source (haem iron) then your body will take up around 60 of the 100 units. If you eat it as a vegetarian source (non-haem iron), you only take up 40 of the 100 units. If you take it as a supplement, liquid or tablet, then you only take up about 20 of the 100 units…!
So if you may be low, then if you are a meat-eater, so consider just having a little more meat, and making sure you don't waste it by having it with caffeine or tannins- ie if you have a meaty lunch but end with a nice mug of coffee, you won't be absorbing much iron at all! Ditto if you have it for an early lunch, having had a nice cuppa tea for elevenses… and if you have a meat pie, for example, then without any Vit-C you won't absorb much of the iron… the tannins in some red wines could reduce absorption of your evening meal steak…

You can see why we just found it easier to take 'afternoonses'! :)

Cherryfudge

Thanks @ladybird1106 and @Laura_Elsewhere , that's all very helpful. In theory I knew about the Vit C but in practice I'd not considered it.

I too have a special routine now for medication. Thyroxine is first thing, with a 30-60 minute break before anything except water so the absorption is as good as possible. All other medications are shunted to as late as possible, and that includes supplements as so much interacts with Thyroxine and I'm on prescribed calcium which is a prime suspect. When I remember, I have calcium around 4pm but that often gets missed if I'm out of the house or busy. The rest are taken after food in the evening, which gives me time for a late night calcium as well (the prescription is for two a day but I admit that's hard to keep up.).

I didn't know about the animal protein and I'm mostly vegetarian/pescatarian, which is not helpful here. However, I do have a fondness for liver and bacon… I've finished with my caffeine for the day by dinner time, and normally have a decaff after lunch then leave it at that. That's not choice or saintliness, or financial or health-consciousness, it's mostly because three coffees in a day is very likely to lead to anxiety, and I could do without that.

I think I need some dietary recommendations to help me absorb all this info…!

liselle

That’s good practice with the Thyroxine,Cherry.I mostly drink de-caff tea but have always started the day with caffeine.Only recently did I hear not to take Thyroxine within half an hour.Rather than mess about timing, I opted for de-caff in the morning!

I use the spray iron supplement from H & B.Much gentler on the stomach.

badmemory

A bit of trivia coming up. If your iron is low do not go up any mountains. Altitude sickness is no fun & even less is having to be airlifted down to hospital. My sister had to be airlifted off a mountain in Peru.

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943359#Comment_81943359

I think the information on the labels has really improved over the last few years, and I talk to pharmacists as well - I have faith in their fantastic understanding of the drugs they dispense!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943440#Comment_81943440

Oh crumbs - avoid Peru and other high places if your iron is low! I hadn't thought at all about this aspect but I'm guessing it's about scarcity of oxygen at altitude.

Cherryfudge

It doesn't feel as if I've got much done today but in fact two lots of washing are done and largely put away, some ironing happened and I've bought DGD3 a present and card, got myself some moisturiser and brushes for applying paste to the next cardboard donkey or equivalent, and remembered to pick up my prescription.

It's been mostly a nice sunny day, not so cold, but breezy, good for drying unless you count two or three quick showers.

I was trying not to worry about DH as he was quite down last night but in fact he found the morning appointment useful and seems generally better today. He even rang to say he'd arranged for another roofer to come and give us a quote. This one is a really nice chap and seems to know what he's talking about but is thinking it will cost a couple of thousand more than the second quote. Access is going to affect it though he was quite creative thinking about how they could get scaffolding to the back. The lane is still partly blocked by a tree that split during a storm and is now growing horizontally at about three feet above the ground. It's no one's tree and half of it is still standing, so I think we just need to take the chainsaw to it and try to minimise the blockage.

DH cooked tonight: tuna pasta, then got the lawn mower out from the depths of the garage, having seen me resorting to hacking long, tufty grass with shears! I hope to be able to mow it one dry day - when we get one of them. He then got the hobby car out and we had a drive round the block, though we didn't put the top down. However, it makes summer seem close.

I haven't been tempted to fall asleep so I must be getting over the weekend!

Watty1

Can the council help with the lane? One of my "mini trees" (really a hedgerow plant out of control) came down in a storm and I had a really grumpy neighbour telling me if I didn't shift it pronto he would call the council and get them to do it but as it was on my land they would charge me. He came back a couple of hours later to tell me I still had not moved it. Charming chap he was!

It was not really blocking the road, one could drive round it and a local chap took a chainsaw to it late in the day, saying the council did not charge and the neighbour was just a grumpy so and so but it was quicker for the chainsaw wielding chap to do it than wait on the council. (He was the antidote to the grumpy one as the nice chap felt the local council did not need to waste resources on something so simple!)