Doctor's Orders

I [heart] my endocrinologist. Well, technically she is a nurse practioner in my endocrinology practice but to me, for all intents and purposes, Jennifer is my endocrinologist and she is awesome. She even took me a day late for my appointment last week. How that happened I don’t know but I was ever so grateful for her to take me a day late, and to enter the room with a smile and one of those one-arm-around-my-shoulders squeeze/ encouraging hugs. We laughed at my mistake and she said that when I didn’t show up the day before, she knew it wasn’t like me. See, she’s great, right? She knows me. I’m more than a chart.

She applauded my weight loss, albeit meager, and we went over the results of my blood work. She told me that my levels are low again; I told her that actually came as good news—since after losing 12 pounds in the first couple of months after joining the gym, I have been struggling to lose weight without results. From there she asked if there were any other changes or things I wanted to report and—because I am so comfortable with her—I proceeded to tell her that I feel like I am at the age when I’m not sure what simply can be attributed to my age, or what might be related to my thyroid or something else.

“Like?...” she probed.

“Well, I feel good when I go to the gym, but afterward I am always so achy. I have to pop a handful of ibuprofen. My joints ache lately, especially my hips and knees.”

The nice part was it felt like a conversation I might have with a friend, only she’s a medical professional who told me that Vitamin D deficiency could cause those symptoms as well as the winter doldrums, that it could be more than middle age and my thyroid. She had actually called for that test in my blood work too, but those results weren’t in yet. She said she’d call when those results came in.

She called today, and wouldn’t you know, my Vit D levels are looooww.

You mean it’s not me just being pathetic? It’s not just middle age knocking on my door? And that craving for sunshine I have is more than psychological? Like, I’ll have an excuse to sit by the pool as soon as it opens?

For now, I’ll have to make due with Vitamin D supplements…but I feel better already.