Originally posted to my Facebook page on August 27, 2026
There were days (I'd like to believe) when physicians had time to read your chart and your labs, and know you well enough to be mindful of your history (maybe because you lived in a small town where everyone knew each other for decades). These are not those days. And I don't live in a small town.
A year ago (July 30, 2025) my lab work came back. My nurse practitioner (who is great and I truly appreciate) noted my climbing FSH level and some other hormone getting lower (indicating the beginning of my carefree happy days would soon be at hand - lol).
My online chart tagged something called MCHC, indicating it was low. But the NP didn't comment on it and the difference in the decimal points between normal and me weren't so far apart. But, I started digging online - just to see what is was, what it meant, etc.
And I started taking an over the counter iron supplement . . . a year ago.
Something hasn't been right for a while now. I've felt it. It was like something I remembered from years ago. And at first it didn't bother me too much, because if you recognize something for what it is, you can often deal with it. Until you can't.
Had a simply gone to AI (and not waited until today), maybe I would have found this sooner. But sometimes, you don't know what question to ask, until you find yourself out on a limb (figuratively).
Q: can low mchc cause psychosis?
A: Low MCHC is often associated with iron deficiency anemia, which has been linked to mental health issues, including psychosis. Addressing iron deficiency may help improve symptoms related to mental health conditions.
(from DuckDuckGo Search Assist, michiganmedicine.org, and Healthgrades)
On Saturday, I went with my younger son to the health food store. He was looking for . . . I don't really know . . . a list of things. And I saw a liquid iron supplement. I thought maybe I should take that instead of the other stuff I had at home - just until the bottle was empty. An experiment, perhaps, to see if it was any different than the gummies I'd been taking the past year, or the tablets I recently purchased. After consulting the dosing label, and seeing the dose at age 50 was 3x the dose for 51, I decided on the higher dose. It couldn't hurt, right?
Did I mention I've been taking an iron supplement for over a year now?
In the last half-day, I can tell something is marginally better. Five days on this liquid miracle.
And yet again, I'm brought to wonder, once again . . .
how many times in my life do I need to get close to losing my mind,
and end up praying that semi-nonsense prayer
because I'm watching my rope fraying
and I'm in tears.
And next time (hopefully there won't be one), but if there is . . . will I be able to recognize it sooner? Like before the full on crazy happens and I begin pulling up stakes and cutting ties and self-isolating (because even if crazy isn't contagious, it does make others uncomfortable). Hell, it makes me uncomfortable (with myself and others).
The human body is amazing.
It is curious how the descent into psychosis is so gradual - without something to wake you to what is happening, you could simply tiptoe into oblivion. And not even realize it.
Scary, if you think about it.
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