Heath Update: Still Searching, Still Healing
By mid-July, I had finished my last iron infusion — 1,000 milligrams in total. I hoped this time would feel different, that maybe I’d notice a real shift in my energy. But the truth is, I don’t feel much different. In the coming weeks, I’ll retest my ferritin to see where my iron sits. My guess? It will show a temporary uptick, like it has before — a short-lived improvement that still doesn’t explain the bigger why.
And so the search continues.
Rheumatology came first. They ran a full panel of labs, looking for autoimmune red flags. Nothing alarming came back, which is good — but also frustrating. Because “nothing alarming” doesn’t mean “nothing is wrong.” It just means we keep looking.
The referrals started stacking up.
An eye doctor to rule out Sjögren’s with a dry eye test — still upcoming.
A gastroenterologist for a scope — still upcoming. If that shows nothing, then a pill cam study. If that still shows nothing, then a hematologist.
An endocrinologist for my thyroid, after labs showed positive TPO antibodies — still upcoming.
Each new door opened to another hallway of waiting rooms, clipboards, and specialists that I will likely see for less than ten minutes.
And here’s the part I can’t ignore: this is the problem with our healthcare system.
It’s not that doctors don’t want to help — most of them do. It’s that they’re trained inside a system that isn’t designed to heal the sick. The model is fragmented. Big pharma and insurance dictate priorities. And so patients like me get referred from one doctor to another, with no one holding the whole picture.
My GI doctor walked in, glanced at my chart, ordered the scope, and was gone.
Less than ten minutes.
No real conversation.
No connection.
No sense of the bigger story.
That’s not on him as a person — it’s on the system that measures his worth in speed, not depth.
Meanwhile, I’ve been living with low iron for over a decade. A body that keeps whispering, something isn’t right. And yet the search keeps dragging on, scattered across specialties, each one chasing their piece of the puzzle.
This is why I believe so strongly in functional medicine.
It’s not about treating lab results in isolation — it’s about asking the harder question: why? Why is my iron consistently low? Why does my body keep swinging between depletion and temporary relief?
For now, I straddle both worlds.
Conventional medicine gives me access to labs, scopes, and referrals.
Functional medicine helps me dig deeper into root causes and patterns.
Together, they form the only path forward I can see.
I don’t have the answers yet. Maybe the scope will bring clarity. Maybe the pill cam. Maybe hematology. Maybe none of them.
But what I do know is this: I’ll keep asking.
I’ll keep fighting to see the whole picture of my health, even if the system isn’t built for it.
Because healing isn’t just about surviving symptoms — it’s about becoming whole again.
If you’ve ever felt like a number on a chart instead of a person…
If you’ve ever left an appointment with more questions than answers…
If you’ve ever wondered if the system is failing you more than your body is…
You’re not alone.
With heart,
Rebecca
*FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOT MEDICAL ADVICE.
