Looking back, I realize what a complete waste of space I was for a good 8 months or so, maybe longer. I had zero energy, from the time I woke up to the soonest I could collapse in my bed after work...around 4:30 in the afternoon. I too often found myself cancelling evening plans with friends because I was so physically exhausted and mentally drained. I opted for a "quick nap" that usually wouldn't end until my alarm went off the next morning instead of dinner with my family. I let my gym membership sit there and rot because I COULD NOT make myself choose the treadmill over my pillow. I still went out on the weekends, but found myself calling it a night earlier and earlier.
Aside from being that tired...allll the time...it lead me to a severe lack of motivation to do anything of importance. I went through the motions of the day - doing what I had to do to get through it, but nothing more. Which is really unlike me, especially in the professional environment. In all my previous jobs, I have found myself going above and beyond - finding projects to work on or ways to improve a process. I wasn't doing that anymore.
And then there were the headaches. Awful, miserable, painful headaches that lasted all day long and remained strong even against the power of Extra Strength Tylenol and Excedrin Migraine. These headaches came on suddenly and clearly had no intentions of leaving any time soon. Along with the headaches came fatigue, shortness of breath, weakness and a tingling in my fingertips and wrists. After 5 straight days of this, and missing a day of work, I finally went to see my doctor. She checked for pneumonia, ran blood tests to rule out infection and blood clots, and several other small tests...and yet, she was stumped. She gave me a shot of Toradol for the pain and sent me on my way, hoping that breaking the cycle of pain may kick the headaches. A week later, no relief. My doctor decided to run another set of blood tests, one of which was to check my Vitamin B12 level.
My B12 was in the mid 200 range, which doesn't technically make me "deficient." But the normal range is 200-900 or 200-1100 (depending on where you have the test done) so it sure put me pretty darn close. B12 is a vitamin you get from your diet, it's not one that your body can make on its own. It is absorbed from the proteins in meat, fish, eggs and dairy - which I definitely eat enough of. So, knowing that my body wasn't absorbing the B12 properly from my diet, I started weekly B12 injections to get my levels back up. My doctor and myself were hoping that the headaches may have just been a way of my body telling me that something was wrong and that after B12 injection therapy, they would start to subside.
It took almost a full month of the injections before I started to find relief from the headaches, which I was so incredibly ready for! But I think what I've enjoyed more than ridding myself of these headaches, was the energy and motivation I gained after just the first week - which only continued to grow from there. I've started using my gym membership again...almost every day, now. I've been more involved at work, putting together a training manual and helping my boss on some small projects (ahh, much better.) I have noticed that I am sleeping so hard that I wake up sometimes and don't know what day it is - but I wake up feeling refreshed and energized and ready to tackle the world. And I have no desire to hit my snooze, once I'm up, I'm up! I think I'm actually getting the best sleep of my adult life. Knowing that my body is capable of feeling the way that it does now, and that my mind can feel so strong, really makes me consider the previous months and how lacking they were in so many ways.
My boyfriend continuously called me "Grandma Shelby" whenever I wanted to go to sleep at 9pm on a Friday night, or needed a nap mid-way through Saturday. Now I'm the one pulling on his arm to go find something to do. My spirits are on high, I feel like I've actually enjoyed my days, both in and out of work, and my bed no longer calls my name. On the contrary, I find that I am having to force myself to go to sleep - otherwise I could stay up all day and half the night, no problem.
I knew I was tired all the time, I knew I was being lazy, I knew I wasn't motivated. But I guess I didn't realize it was negatively affecting me so much, until I wasn't any of those things anymore. I can't recall the last time I felt this good, emotionally, physically, and mentally. I'm excited to see what this new energy and fresh motivation allows me to accomplish. I'm excited for how lively my days will continue to feel. But mostly, I'm over-the-moon happy and feeling 100% healthy for the first time in a really long time.
As painful and persistent as those headaches were, I am thankful for the fact that they lead me to discover my low level of B12. Because you typically don't just go to the doctor and say "I'm tired and lazy, cure me." Unfortunately, it will take something else, like in my situation, to find that there is an actual problem with your health that's affecting these things (unless in fact, you're actually just a lazy person.)
*****************
I hadn't even known the importance of B12, or how a low level can negatively affect your body to this extent. I didn't know it was something that your body could fail to absorb. I didn't know anything about it, at all. But after researching on my own, and understanding how the human body processes the food in your diet to extract, absorb and store the vitamin, and then subsequently use it for such important functions, I realize that probably not many people know this stuff either. And B12 deficiency is actually a very common thing that goes undiagnosed far too often. I've suggested to many of my friends and family to have their B12 levels checked, because something so simple has caused a world of change for me, in just a month and half. And through all of this, and with the help of follow up tests, I've also found that my body, at this point, does not have the proper means to absorb the vitamin on its own from my diet. Research Intrinsic Factor Antibody, if you'd like to find out why. I will need to have monthly injections from this point forward in order to maintain a stable level. And if it's a small poke in the arm once a month that will allow me to continue feeling this good, it's well worth it.
