Please let me know!!
I am exhausted, beyond exhausted. I could sleep for 100 years… Where is the 13th fairy godmother when you need her?
Wilson sleeps anywhere
I have recently started an 8 week ‘lifestyle change’ programme for ME sufferers to help me learn to get some balance in my life, and help me crawl out of the ‘boom & bust’ way of approaching tasks which clearly doesn’t work any more.
I have only done week one, but it is great to be in a room so seemingly perfectly people who all feel as dreadful as I do on the inside. We have been given a weekly diary to complete mapping what we do and how much energy it takes and how exhausted we feel.
I can already see why I am tired. I burn myself out every other day.
The problem is, I used to be able to do this. I worked full time in demanding jobs, I had young children, a busy social life and I ran long distances (up to 7 miles) 2 or 3 times a week.
Now I am stuck in Groundhog Day. Forever doomed to be on day 17 of the 30 Day Ab challenge as I get up to day 19 and then am too tired to keep going… So I take a break for a few days & then have to go back to day 17 to continue.
I am desperate to find some way to get back to my old self, the one who people used to see out of the corner of their eyes as I sped past at 300 miles an hour
I want to stop falling asleep every time I sit down! I am the worst driving companion. This Sunday we moved my eldest daughter to her new home in the student halls in Southampton University. It was a 2 hour drive each way and I slept the whole way. (Luckily Peter was driving) I can drive short distances, but anything over 20 minutes & I start falling asleep myself.
I am willing to try anything to help. I read somewhere that vitamin B12 injections can help with exhaustion, so I have started on a course… An injection once a week for 10 weeks and then once a month.
I have noticed that I have quicker recovery times in the last few weeks… Sometimes I feel ok after a good nights sleep, which is such an improvement from waking up feeling completely drugged and as if I haven’t slept a wink.
Does anyone else have experience of vitamin B12 injections? Do they help? How soon should I feel different? Is the slight improvement that I have noticed the extent of the change, or will I get more energy soon?
Looking forward to hearing from you!!
Day One 
It was hard to say “like” on this post. We have another good friend in Atlanta with ME and this sounds like a carbon copy of what she goes through. I have also heard about the many benefits of B-12. I have never had shots, but do take a B-12 supplement every day (mostly for my heart health). I don’t think there’s any question that they do help and continue to help your body “recover” from the daily stresses and physical output. Any side effects are not too serious and very rare so why not keep “giving it a go”.
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Indeed… I’ve always (well in the last 14 years of so) taken vitamin B supplements every winter and it has definitely helped prevent SAD which i used to suffer from every winter.
I know that my persistent Sinus infection (2 years now) is a massive symptom of my ME (poor immune response) and cause of my exhaustion as I am unable to breathe through my nose and my body is permanently failing to fight infection. I have just got another ear infection (connected of course) so am in loads of pain in the left side of my face today & cant hear through that ear, so am on even more antibiotics now (which also cause problems in long term use)
[Our house is great fun at the moment as peter has poor hearing and my lovely teenager only talks in mumbles… our conversations are gibberish!]
The expression ‘they shoot horses don’t they’ springs to mind!
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P.S. That picture of Wilson is priceless. I’m thinking the last thing on his mind is B-12.
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He does the cutest things like falling asleep on the doorstop lion…. but then looks all embarrassed when you capture him being cute. he loves a pillow though… he always tries to find a place to rest his head when he sleeps
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Rick takes B12 because of something else to do with his blood and he thinks that it helps energize him a bit but nothing of great significance. Don.’t give up, everyone is different, it could work for you. Good luck…
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I’ll persevere, as i said to al, i think my persistent infections and pain are also bringing me down and interfering with any positive affect B12 might have…. hopefully in a few weeks i will be able to report an improvement 🙂
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If you have ME, you will never get back to your old self. You won’t really change the cycle until you accept that.
My husband took a similar course to help manage his ME and it made a huge difference, because he learned not to have peaks and troughs, but to plateau. You must must must pace yourself, listen to your body, and stop before you overdo things.
It’s not easy; life tends to get in the way. Sometimes, like Christmas, he knows he’s going to overdo it but can’t avoid it, and accepts that he’ll be in bed for a few weeks afterwards.
ME is as much an illness of attitude as of the body.
Hope the B12 helps.
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“You won’t really change the cycle until you accept that.”
I’m mourning the loss of my previous life & energy levels, although overdoing it for years on end was most likely a high contributing factor
I’m getting there….. will update you all 🙂
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It’s not easy, of course; but it can be done.
And it’s not just you – the people around you have to learn to accept the change in circumstance as well.
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I know
My husband is great, he accepts i need a lot of time off these days, but the children (16 & 19) nstruggle to understand that when i say i am too exhausted to do a simple task, i mean it. Other days i am fine and have no problem with dishes, laundry, dinner etc… bad days i do one thing & that is me wrecked for the day
Some days i have no choice but to push on through regardless of how wrecked i am, appearing drunk as stagger from time to time, drop things and slur my words. I feel like im having a stroke. I’m not… I have an invisible illness that only i can feel 😦
The programme has a week where family are invited in. My eldest has just moved to Southampton to university, but i hope my husband & other daughter will be able to come xx
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Our kids have been great but it helped that they’ve grown up with it; it might have been different if they had been older.
I found it the hardest because he couldn’t work so we had a major shift in circumstance. But I got there in the end.
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Everybody is great, at times… they just forget, and really can’t understand how i can wake up from 14 hours sleep and say I am exhausted. I feel like they assume deep down it’s all in my head & I need to just snap out of it’, otherwise how could it be possible??
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Just asked the Hub about it and he said he spoke to his doctor a while back who told him that it’s a waste of time unless you are actually lacking B12.
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that’s what i’m worrying. My iron levels are low & I am often anaemic, but i’m sure low vitamin b levels would have shown up in some blood test or other… I have had a million!
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I have tried B12 shots. I didn’t really feel a major change but it certainly didn’t hurt (they weren’t long term though). It just may do the trick for you. Good luck!
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Thank you 🙂 I’m going to persevere with them for now & hope for the best, but I was hoping to notice an improvement by now 😦
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Before you take Vit B12, try Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar, mixed with water and sipped throughout the day. The first thing you’ll notice is you’ll sleep better. (It will alkalize your current acidic state).
Stop all dairy intake to get rid of ear infection, and to keep sinuses free of mucus buildup.
I have an all natural nasal spray I recommend also. It will help with sleep quality.
For starters, let me know how you go with ACV anyway.
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A good idea… I’ve started on a raw food diet today, no dairy, no coffee/tea, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners or colours & no processed foods
fingers crossed it will help 🙂 Will get Apple cider vinegar next shop In the meantime will drink lemon in water to help
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The most important thing is to STOP pushing.and take one step at a time. Think of a ladder each step is a new energy level. If you fall at step seventeen, you cannot get right back up there immediately. Like a baby, you are beginning from the first step all over again. When comfortable with that level, then try step two. Pushing means you will spend more time back on the ground.
speccy, is a good solid friend, listen to her!
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I’ve started stopping, I’ve told work I can only do 2 days a week ( they keep asking me to do more & I’ve been doing 3 or more for ages!! )
With day 17… I keep getting stuck at day 20/21/22 so make myself go back to 17 rather than trying to continue where I left off….
Working less will help with this.
Can’t see mmuch change with the injections at week 5, apart from a slightly quicker ‘recovery time’ from complete exhaustion… Was hoping for a miracle I guess!
baby steps…
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