I'm Not Going Mad...

I used to be hyperactive. I mean properly hyperactive. As a baby I slept for one hour out of 24 and once on my feet I would spend all night walking round my parent's coffee table over and over again. God bless my poor folks it must have been an absolute nightmare. It's bad enough having a new baby to deal with without it being loopy like I was.

All through childhood I was a night person...always up late, living on little sleep. Once I started working I loved doing the night shifts and often had only a few hours kip each day. I always had bags of energy and was always up to something, going somewhere or planning something.

Then I hit 26 and things began to change. Following the birth of 5 year old my body decided to change the way it worked. Gone were the days of boundless energy and in came tiredness like I'd never had in my life. I could sleep for 15 hours a night and still be tired a few hours later. I was often freezing cold and I began to get headaches which would last for days on end.

The Doc's diagnosed depression and treated me for such but it made no difference. In any event I didn't feel depressed just bloody tired. 18 long months later I was told I didn't have depression I had hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid).

There's a barrel load of symtoms that go along with this illness...lethargy, weight gain, headaches, muscular aches, cold extremities, dizzyness, period troubles and many, many more. I have them all. Luckily once I begun treatment the tiredness eased off and the periods are now gone, the rest of it I put up with still but to a lower degree.

Recently though I noticed another wierd thing happening. The tiredness came back, the headaches became worse and instead of always having freezing feet and hands they now altered between freezing cold and boiling hot. Most worrying of all though was that I began to lose feeling in my feet and legs, and I noticed that my arms would turn purple. I also realised that I was getting pins and needles at least 7 times a day and that my hands and feet were constantly tingiling.

The Doc ran blood tests and we awaited the results. When they came back we were baffled. Everything was fine. She had ruled out neurological problems, diabetes, my Thyroid was ok, I wasn't lacking in Iron...it seemed a mystery.

She decided to run more bloods explaining she wanted to check my vitamin levels and folate levels. Today I got a call from her to say I am vitamin B12 deficient.

There are 2 reasons for the deficiency apparently, either you just don't eat enough foods that contain it or your body doesn't absorb it properly. Now given B12 is only found in animal products and especially red meat I reckon my reason will be the former. In fact when I told the Doc my diet consisted of pasta, tomatoes, crisps and ice lollies she was less than amused! I haven't eaten red meat since I was 11 years old although I do occasionally eat chicken and fish but apparently that doesn't cut the mustard in the B12 stakes. The Doc was kind enough to realise that despite the best thing being that I return to eating steaks it was not going to be an option for me. She didn't pressure me but understood it was a choice I had made over 20 years ago and there was no going back. The very thought makes my stomach turn.

So at last I have a reason for my new wierd symptoms. Funnily enough people with Thyroid conditions are more prone to B12 deficencies....now there's a shock! I think people thought I was making my symptoms up...I actually thought for a moment maybe I was going mad but I'm not. For a change!

Anyway I now have to get B12 injected into my bum 5 times in the next 2 weeks and then every 3 months for life...things moved kind of fast in this department. I got the call from the Doc at 12pm today and have picked up my prescription and have just returned from having my first prick in the arse!! My bum is now bloody sore but not to worry, if it means no more pins and needles then I'm happy.

Doc advised me to rest today after the injection to avoid bruising and to lessen any reactions I may get. Fat bloody chance I'm working tonight at the club!!

And so I leave you to sit on my sore bum until I leave to start pulling pints!

Jenny xx