For years I have felt tired all day every day. I would sleep 8 to 9 hours each night and then I still felt like I could take a nap around 2:00pm. Even waking up after 9 hours of sleep, I still felt like I could sleep more if I didn’t have things to do. No matter how little or how long I sleep, I would always wake up feeling sluggish and I would never wake up feeling energized or ready to take on the day. For the past 4 years, I have been working out 7-10 times per week because I am the owner of a fitness studio. I was always aware that working out that much isn’t the average, so I always chalked up my tiredness to over exercising and overworking my body physically.
Insert global pandemic – my fitness studio was shut down for 10 months so my 7-10 workouts a week dropped to 1 or 2 (and sometimes not at all). However, my tiredness level stayed the same as before. After about 10 months of still waking up feeling tired during the pandemic, never feeling like I was sleeping enough and compensating with way too much caffeine, I knew it was time to figure out a solution.
I finally made an appointment to go see my doctor. I explained everything I was feeling and she advised that I get a blood test done just to make sure it wasn’t anything serious.
My blood results showed that I have something called Macrocytosis, which is almost always caused by a lack of Vitamin B12 and folate. We all get vitamin B12 from the foods that we consume (mainly foods that come from animals). The main symptoms from B12 deficiency are extreme fatigue, lack of energy and muscle weakness. Immediately I was relieved that I wasn’t just feeling lazy and whatever I was feeling was showing up on a test. Vitamin B12 deficiency can be caused by not getting enough of it in your diet or if you are getting it in your diet, your body could just not be absorbing it the way that you need it.
So I decided to start getting B12 injections in my arm once a month. About an hour after I got my first one, I literally felt like I drank 3 Red Bulls. I could feel the difference immensely! I woke up the next day feeling more awake than I did prior to the injection. I also felt more energized in my workouts and overall just more energy throughout the day. I am sure placebo has some small role to play, but I can say I truly noticed a difference in my levels of tiredness throughout the day. I am so happy that I looked into why I was feeling fatigued. I put off going to the doctor for so long because obviously the doctor isn’t everyone’s favorite place to be, but I am so glad I made it a priority.
I am not recommending B12 injections for everyone, I am just sharing what worked for me. I have heard of people getting B12 injections that aren’t deficient in B12 and they don’t feel any different. If you are feeling tired or just off, I really encourage you to look into it or go see your doctor. Your health should be the number one thing you want to invest your time and money into!
