My Duh Moment...

Remember the post from the other day and I mentioned that I was feeling tired, fatigued, run down? I said that I would be paying closer attention this week and if it continued I'd go get a round of labs drawn. Well... I think I figured it out. It's my B12. (I'm 98% sure it's my B12, anyway.) I checked the symptoms of B12 deficiency just to confirm my suspicions (here are the ones that fit with how I'm feeling):

• fatigue
• moodiness
• dizziness
• headaches
• constipation (although this seems to be perpetual)
• intestinal disturbances (not sure what that means exactly, but I've been queasy lately)

About a month ago I bought a new bottle of B12, but I accidentally grabbed the 500mcg tabs instead of my usual 2500mcg tabs. My normal dose is one 2500mcg sublingual B12 every other day (comes out to 3 or 4 days per week). So my weekly dose is about 10,000mcg each week. So when I started on the new bottle, I just thought: "Oops! Got the wrong ones, I'll just take one everyday instead." No, I didn't bother doing the math. But I did yesterday. 500mcg x 7 days = 3,500mcg/week. Duh! No wonder I'm run down and tired. My B12 is obviously depleted. And I did it to myself! We know that it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for body to deplete the stores we have of B12 (other B vitamins are only days!). So about 4 weeks after drastically cutting my dose I'm feeling the effects of the deficiency. I should probably have my B12 level checked just to make sure, but I'll hold off for now. If things don't get better quickly, I'll call my doctor. I stopped at the store last night and bought a bottle of my normal dose. I'm going to take one tab everyday for a week, then cut back to my normal dose of every other day. I should start feeling the effects within a few days. So here's a lesson in paying attention, I guess. It doesn't take much to throw myself off a routine which can result in my body taking the hit for my carelessness. I'll definitely be paying closer attention to stuff like this in the future! ~Pam