Every time a doctor finds something wrong that could explain the fibro, I get excited that this might be the final piece that gets me back to 100%. When I started the B12 treatment I was very excited because of how much better I felt, how much harder I was able to push myself. I may have pushed myself a little too much. Today I woke up in a flareup, the pain is intense at times.

Yesterday was a hard day for me, physically and mentally. I woke up with digestive issues, most likely triggered by an ingredient in a packaged food I ate the night before. I stopped buying and eating that brand of packaged food before of the digestive issues it would cause, but I was out at friends’ the night before and thought “I will only have a small amount, I will be fine.”, I wasn’t. By late yesterday morning I had mild nausea and dizziness issues, this eventually turned into a stomach ache that nothing would cure. Bad digestive issues like that never come alone, they always bring anxiety. This was anxiety that could almost be ignored, until something unexpected happened. Even something as small as someone bumping into me in the hall without apologies, or a car running a stop sign, is enough to trigger a full panic attack.

I eventually made it home, anxiety untriggered. The stomach ache eventually became extreme and I had a minor IBS episode. This left me drained, but I was able to eat some dinner. Even though I did pass out immediately after dinner, I ended up going to bed by 9pm. I was hopeful that as long as I got some decent sleep I would wake up okay, after all, I may have been tired, but I wasn’t fatigued like I was before the B12 treatment.

When I woke this morning the first thought that came to my mind was “wow, I still feel like butt”. Today unlike yesterday, I ache; the joints ache, the muscles ache, the hands and fingers ache. It is too early in the day to know if I will have continued digestive issues, but I am definitely in a full fibro flareup. I am hoping that this will not be a long flareup and that the B12 will help give me the energy I need to exercise through it.

Even though I have been exercising regularly, the fatigue attacks continued to occur. At seemingly random intervals I would suddenly become extremely fatigued and chilled.  Naps would occasionally help, sometimes letting me warm up. For the longest time I assumed this was because of fibro and it would either improve or never change. Then I had bloodwork done and received the results.

Initial glance at the results and everything looks fairly healthy. Started to look at the results over the past six years and at the values that are at the upper and lower end of ‘healthy’, and I started to see a pattern. Based on my current results my red blood cells were not forming correctly, a slight megaloblastic anemia. This was confirmed this with my doctors.

Many people with fibromyalgia have a B12 deficiency, usually managed with supplements or injections. When I was last tested for B12 I was taking vitamins and a B Complex supplement, which kept my levels high enough to be healthy.

I eventually stopped taking those vitamins and supplements, letting my body detox of everything. At the time my digestive issues were bad, supplements such as B complex would upset my stomach. I had been on so many prescription pills and supplements that I wanted to start fresh, give my liver a chance to recover, stop taking pills that upset my stomach.

Over time I added basic supplements such as Vitamin D, turmeric, quercetin, and magnesium back into my diet. Last fall I added supplements suggested by one of my Doctors. Since I was doing better than I had been in years, I never considered that I was missing a key vitamin. I started looking over my supplements and dietary intake. B12 was missing from all my current supplements and my diet was not high in it. There were days where I would get sufficient amounts of B12, but most days I barely took in more than half what I needed, some days almost none. My body would deplete its store of B12 I would have anemic episodes.

The day I started taking a B12 supplement my body stopped crashing. I’m feeling better, but being anemic damages the body, I’m not sure how long it will take to fully recover. Since I wasn’t completely deficient, hopefully only weeks, but even if it takes months, I’m getting stronger.