<my oldest holding the newest baby cousin>
I feel good today! And for that I am VERY thankful! This is my third day of feeling very, very good. And I had a moment today that made me tear up with joy. I was helping my 4 year old straighten his room, and I glanced down at the desk in his room and saw some artwork that my 15 year old had done when she was 4.
Her cute scratchy signature immediately brought me back to a clear memory of her when she was 4…her little face, her smile, her cute bobbed hair. Y’all…I had a *memory* of my baby!
After how badly my brain has been functioning, it made me tear up a little. I wasn’t sure if my memories would all come back to me. I thank God for his graciousness to me for that little glimpse back. I can’t tell you how precious that was…what a gift.
My Breakthrough
Last week, I posted about why I have not been blogging lately. According to my lab work, I am in the middle of treatment for stage 2 adrenal insufficiency (aka adrenal fatigue). At the time that I wrote, I was in the middle of what most people would call a bad “detox”. And when I say “bad” I mean horrible, terrible, no-good, feeling like a raw nerve, don’t want to eat or take my vitamins but forcing myself to anyway type of thing.
I don’t recommend it.
I e-mailed my Dr., but the symptoms continued to get worse. He e-mailed me back, using phrases like “MASSIVE die off” and “VERY TOXIC”, and indicated that I needed to significantly slow down my treatment and revert back to the first phase again. 🙁 What a HUGE bummer!
I shared with some friends and asked them to pray. One of my friends mentioned glutathione as being a major factor in detoxing. So I did a little reading, and realized that maybe my B12 levels were too low…it’s a major ingredient your body uses to create glutathione. And I know my body has a genetic defect that makes me really bad at converting it to a usable form. I had been supplementing my maintenance dose, but I realized that was probably not enough.
The next morning, I popped a sublingual B12 under my tongue after my breakfast and supplements.
WOW! Within the hour, I felt like a new woman! I could NOT believe the difference. I’ve continued to support my body with adequate amounts of B12 each day, and have felt progressively better.
And for that, I am thankful. So very thankful!
Hopefully, I will be back at this blogging thing soon! I really want to tell you guys what I’ve learned through this process. Thanks for your love and support, and for all of your sweet comments!
<3 Oh girl, I know how you feel all too well. Glad you found something to work. 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Thanks, Jessica! <3
Sublingual B12 is something I have to take every day! I’ve been bad about forgetting it lately and my bran goes to mush.
Glad you’re feeling better!
Gwen, giving thanks that you found this helpful! A year or so ago, I bought another brand of sublingual B-12 for my girls who are vegetarian. They were not good about taking the liquid B-12, as it tasted so bad, and did not like to get the shots. (Especially not after my 16-year-old passed out, 2 minutes into the shot. That was rather scary!). They both saw an immediate change in their energy levels. I decided to take them, too, and felt an almost immediate sense of euphoria, like I’d just taken some sort of happy pill! I think the sublingual is the way to go. Similar to homeopathics and works just as quickly. Here’s the brand we use: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ARCAJE?pc_redir=1410065265&robot_redir=1
Btw, Claire has grown into such a beauty! At first, I thought that was you, holding her as a baby.
Yes! I felt the same way when I first started the methyl B12. Prior to that, my stomach would hurt if I took B vitamins. Turns out, I have a genetic mutation that makes it very hard for my body to convert regular B12 and folic acid into the active forms. Finding methylated B’s has been a game changer for my health!
She has grown up SO much this year! It’s still a little shocking to see her looking like a grown woman. 🙂
Yay! So glad you are feeling better!
I love this. I needed it today as a reminder to be faithful with my b12. I have been forgetting to take it and have been feeling good, but not today. Now to my b’s!
Thank you for being so candid! 🙂
Yay, for feeling good and precious recalled memories!!! 🙂 (We don’t take these for granted.)
<3 God bless you, Gwen!
Have you read “The Diet Cure”? I won’t go into detail here, but it has absolutely changed my life – amino acids and vitamins are the protocol for my deficencies. Changed. My. Life.
If B12 made such an amazing difference for you, there could be more information here to help you.
Thank you for sharing your journey – praying for you!
Yes, Tori! Well, I read the Mood Cure, and have recommended both books here on my blog.
We’ve used her suggestions, but because I have some underlying issues, it was only a patch for me. But it did work well!
So glad you are having good days! Thank you for posting about lost memories and how it feels to get one back. Such an encouragement.
Thank you, Sheila! I’m SO grateful to be feeling better!
I am wondering if it is possible that blood work for B12 could come back normal but one could still have a deficiency? Or is the blood test pretty accurate? I had my doc check for Lyme and he checked for that, B12, D, etc and he said all levels were normal at the time except liver enzymes were not good. He rechecked them again after 4 weeks and they were fine. Don’t know what that means. He tends to let the office tell me they are fine and does not explain anything.
“Normal” range for B12 can be different than optimal. Numbers toward the lower end at normal still leave some with low B12 symptoms. Also, you can have high blood levels of B12 but the important thing is if it is actually getting into your cells. Some do better using a cell ready B12.
Cheryl, this is VERY possible. In fact, I have a friend who was experiencing serious deficiency symptoms, and the specialist she was seeing told her that she had “plenty of B’s” from her labs. Turns out, those of us who are not great at converting B12 into the useable form have lots of free floating B12 in our blood streams that doesn’t actually make it into the cells to get used. Which means we can have higher levels, but still have deficiency symptoms.
Look into the term MTHFR, and also into using methylated B12. I linked to the brand I like in this post. It was life changing for me!
Praising God for this breakthrough! Praying you can continue this journey/fight. Love and miss you!
Thank you, Conney! <3
So glad you are doing better! Enjoyed reading your update and it reminded me to take my daily sublingual B12.
Gwen…praying for full recovery! I have personally been on this journey for 7 mths now as well…might check out the book “Detoxify or Die”…kind of a morbid title but OH Such a POWERFUL & Amazing Book!
xo-Angela
Thank you, Angela! I’ll check it out. 🙂
Hi Gwen,
I enjoy reading your posts and recipes. I was reading about how taking a B12 supplement really helped with your energy level and brain ‘fog’. I too have been really tired lately (this past month or so). I have 6 healthy children and am trying to follow along with my THM lifestyle. I also had a miscarriage at the end of June, so I don’t know if that would have anything to do with my tiredness. I wonder how you can tell if you’re lacking B12 or any other deficiencies in your body.
I look forward to your reply and thank you again for you blog!
Kristine, I was tested for a genetic pre-disposition that makes me prone to B12 and folic acid deficiency. Ironically, miscarriage and a couple of other family history issues were a red flag for me, so I asked to get tested. My prenatals with extra B’s always made me feel horrible. Turns out, I couldn’t really use those forms of B vitamins.
If you have a midwife or doctor who are willing to test you, I’d definitely do it. Knowing is a wonderful thing, because you can then support your body with B supplements that bypass the flawed enzymes, and are cell-ready. And it was important for me to know so that my kids can also have the right kinds of vitamins that their bodies can use.
I’m so sorry about your loss. ♥ I do think it’s smart to support liver health after a pregnancy, as the body is working to process through all of the hormones, and it does so via the liver. The B vitamins do play an important role in liver metabolism and detox processes. I also personally used milk thistle extract after my pregnancies, with my midwife’s full support. Iron building foods and supplements may be something else you can talk to your health care practitioner about. That can contribute to exhaustion.
I am so glad to read this post. I have been missing you and praying for you off and on hoping that you were just busy with life and family. I am sorry to hear that it is more but will continue to pray for you with all the new details I see you are dealing with. Have missed you bunches girl!!
Gwen, such wonderful news! I often think of all you’ve been through when I make your delicious THM recipes. What an answer to prayer. I pray that you continue to improve!
Thank you SO much, Colleen! I’m doing SO much better and I need to write an update post!
Gwen, so glad you are feeling better.What a beautiful family!
Thank you for your honesty & for sharing this. I have just started on a self treatment for adrenal fatigue & this has given me hope and a little more direction. I know our Father led me here today!!
I read in the comments that you were tested for folic acid & B12 deficiencies. Was that tested with blood work or some other type of testing? We live in rural area & to my knowledge there is not a Dr. close that will help more natural ways of healing.
Hello Gwen!
I’m new to your blog, and considering diving into THM, so your journey and resources have been wonderfully helpful as I’m reading and researching! I have significant weight to lose (5o pounds would be fantastic, but I’d be thrilled with anything beyond 30!), but I also have diagnosed Hashimoto’s and adrenal fatigue. I know my adrenals have come a long way from their low a few years ago, but the interesting thing is, they tanked right after I’d lost a significant amount of weight (using prescription phentermine! Yikes! I’ll never do that again!). Long story short, while I’ve utilized supplementation in the past, our budget simply cannot accommodate an adrenal healing or thyroid support regimen right now, but the natural doctors I’ve worked with have refused to consider NDT or any natural prescription options that would be covered by my insurance. So, in short, I have untreated Hashimoto’s and weak adrenals. As such, I’m not super convinced of the potential success of ANY efforts I might make to lose weight (in fact, nothing has really worked up to this point). My question for you is: do you think there’s any possible correlation between the onset of your similar health issues and your weight loss/long-term dietary changes? I certainly don’t want to seem critical of the THM plan, and I’m really not. Just curious if it’s possibly contraindicative for known issues like hypothyroid and adrenal fatigue.
Thanks so much!
Amanda
Hi Amanda,
I know just a bit about Hashimoto, and you do want to avoid all gluten. It’s an autoimmune condition. My health issues started after a period of extreme stress, but the fact that I had a long term infection that I didn’t know about was really the driving factor for me. So simply changing diet was not enough to get me back on the right track…I had to address the underlying issue that was causing my adrenal fatigue.
Hope that helps!