Popcorn and frozen orange juice

[suziek]

I posted a while back about my SO who almost bled to death and entered the hospital with a hemoglobin of 5 (8 weeks ago). Anyway, he has done pretty well, but still has headaches and dizziness once in a while; but, the biggest problem is that all he wants to eat is popcorn and orange juice. He would eat ice, but I started freezing the orange juice so he would at least get some nourishment. For two weeks he ate green salads every day, but that’s over. He has been drinking over a gallon of orange juice a day for weeks. I make him take iron (even though the Dr. didn’t tell him to) and a muilti-vitamin. He says the iron makes him sick. He won’t go for another blood test. Damm men. Anyway, I presume this strange diet is related to the blood loss, but why popcorn and orange juice? Has anyone else experienced strange food cravings after illness? Should I just go with this until he gets over it or insist he eat normally?

[Padeye]

Drag him bodily to the doctor ASAP! This is a serious problem, too serious to solve with an online diagnosis from your SDBM pals.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

1. Second what Padeye says, get him to a doctor ASAP. Geez. :rolleyes:

2. Anemia and odd food cravings. Yes.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/anaemiairon.htm

Besides the general symptoms of anaemia there will be unique symptoms in pronounced and long-term cases of iron deficiency…

…Or a ‘pica’ can arise - an insatiable craving for a specific food, e.g. liquorice.

There’s more. And it gets worse.

What causes iron deficiency?

Most cases of iron deficiency in children are caused by eating a poor diet containing little iron. In adults, however it is most commonly caused by losing blood faster than the body can remake it.

What are red blood cells?

Red blood cells are made in the bone marrow and circulate in the blood. Through its pumping action, the heart propels the blood around the body through the arteries. The red blood cells obtain oxygen in the lungs and carry it to all the body’s cells.

The cells use the oxygen to fuel the combustion (burning) of sugar and fat which produces the body’s energy.

Basically, by not eating the right foods (protein, mainly) and allowing his body to build his hemoglobin levels back up, he’s starving every cell in his body for oxygen. No hemoglobin to carry oxygen, no oxygen goes to cells, cells begin to die. When enough cells die, SO begins to die.

Iron deficiency can in rare cases cause permanent changes to the mucosa (soft lining) in the throat (Plummer-Vinson syndrome). This condition is a preliminary stage to cancer.

Monday morning. Doctor. You. He. Go.

Sheesh.

[suziek]

Dear Duck: Thanks so much for the article. I’ve searched all over the internet but most of what I found was so technical it wasn’t much help. This article was very clear and understandable. So I printed it out and will make SO read it. Very kind of you both to be so concerned and to take the time to find good information. Thanks again.

[robinh]

Do take him to the doctor.

If his doctor tells him he needs an iron supplement, you might suggest he try Flora-Dix or some other plant-based supplement. I had to replenish my iron after a post-partum hemmorhage, and while I normally to not tolerate iron supplements well, I found this type to be easily digested.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

You are quite welcome. I’m assuming that the doctor he dealt with at the hospital would have been assuming the presence in the SO’s diet of stuff called “food”. Iron supplements by themselves won’t help–it’s protein he needs, for the building blocks to make more blood. This means red meat, liver, spinach, eggs, etc.

I was curious so I went and got your other thread and read it. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59569

What happened to him was not a Normal Thing, not a Good Thing. Sudden catastrophic blood loss like that is a Bad Thing, and is not something you just shrug off and go home and act like nothing happened.

To learn more about anemia, do a Google search under “iron deficiency anemia”, which is the kind he’s got. Here’s one.

Index

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of anemia. Approximately 20% of women, 50% of pregnant women, and 3% of men are iron deficient. Iron is an essential component of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying pigment in the blood. Iron is normally obtained through the food in the diet and by the recycling of iron from old red blood cells.

The causes of iron deficiency are too little iron in the diet, poor absorption of iron by the body, and loss of blood…

http://www.bu.edu/cohis/cardvasc/blood/anemia.htm

Severe cases may have signs of heart failure.

Again, this is not something for him to be a “Tough Guy” about, unless he looks forward to being a Tough Guy laid out on a slab. This is not a “oh, I’ve been a little bit rundown lately” thing, or a “syndrome”, or something that only menstruating women get. This is an actual clinical disease: anemia. He needs to be under a doctor’s care for it.
http://www.google.com