A Trip to the Doctor

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So I always feel like a nap after lunch – doesn’t everyone? Ok, I get worn out after about 20 minutes exertion, but that’s because I don’t exercise enough and my body isn’t used to it. I’m not tired all the time. Nothing a few good night’s sleep wouldn’t cure. Is it really necessary to go and see the doctor for a check up?

But now I’ve seen him, why does it feel like I’m more tired, more of the time? Is it the Vitamin B12 deficiency that’s been identified by a blood test, or is it that I’ve become hyper sensitive to feeling the slightest bit weary?

The doctor didn’t seem to know much about it, and spent a while looking in his medical book. I think I found out more on the Internet; however, I’m to be given a series of 10 injections to boost my levels. Problem is I’m going away on holiday. Never mind – 2 before I go and the remainder when I get back.

He didn’t seem that worried. The accompanying test indicated that it probably wasn’t pernicious anaemia, which is where the body attacks it’s own ‘intrinsic factor’ - the substance necessary for the body to be able to absorb the B12 from the diet. So why should I feel so fragile all of a sudden? If the worst comes to the worst, all it really means is that 3 or 4 times a year I might need a top-up injection.

Truth be told, it feels a bit like my body has betrayed me. There I was, going along, minding my own business and then suddenly it decides that it’s not absorbing, or storing, enough of a vitamin I’d never heard of. Why? From what I can make out, no one really knows what causes it.

I guess it’s just another of those little things that can happen, which remind you that you are mortal after all.