As a soon to be nurse, I try to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. So since I tell my patients how important it is to get regular preventative care, I figured I should probably get a physical since I haven't had one in several years.

I see an NP and I usually like her because I feel like she really listens and spends the necessary time with me. This was not the case this time. I was in and out of there in like 4 minutes and she totally blew off my complaints of fatigue saying "well you are really active and in nursing school."

I figured she knew more than I did so I just accepted that answer. Then about a month ago I switched vitamins. It turns out my new vitamins have a lot more iron (I didn't make this choice consciously, I just wanted a vitamin with less artificial crap in them.)

By increasing the amount of iron I'm getting, look at my resting heart rate.

It dropped from 80 to 64 in a month! I was anemic. As soon as I started getting enough iron, my heart stopped having to work overtime. And guess what- my fatigue is gone too! My running times are so much faster!

In retrospect this was such a simple fix that it makes me so mad that my NP didn't even try to investigate! So I guess the take away here is to trust yourself people. You know your body best. Force your doctor (or PA or NP) to listen and take action if you think something is wrong. 

Have you ever been blown off by a doctor? Do you take iron?