Fatigue And Sprue

[sillyyak]

I notice that I have become increasingly fatigued in the past 3 weeks or so. Does anyone out here experience extreme fatigue from their sprue? If so, what do you do to combat it? I take a gluten free multivitamin and eat as healthy as I can (I stay away from processed foods). Does anyone have to have Vtamin B-12 shots?

Thanks

[mmaccartney]

If you find out, tell me!

I am fatigued all the time. It is rare that I have energy to go do something...

[flagbabyds]

Have you had your iron levels checked? Anemia can cause you to be very fatigued, then if that is it then you can get iron supplements, then you can feel better soon.

[Robix]

Hi there,

Fatigue is probably related to the malabsorption of nutrients - in which case you may be deficient in one main nutrient, or multiple nutrients. You can have this checked in 10 minutes at a health clinic (its a simple hemaglobin test).

You should ask them to check Iron, Folate, B-serums (not just B12 but the whole B panel) and magnesium to start.

I get the monthly cyanocobalamin injections (B-serums) and if I inject myself even a few days late severe exhaustion begins, and symptoms begin.

Symptoms are:

exhasution (difficulty sleeping, difficulty waking up, difficult mobility, unable to perform simple physical tasks like showering or eating).

anti-social behaviour (difficulty looking people in the eyes, engaging in conversations, answering questions takes me a long time)

irritability (every little thing feels like a big deal, the whole world becomes annoying)

anger (I pick fights with everyone)

emotional mood swings (cry one minute, angry another)

apathy (my smile completely disapears, I am very zombie like, expressionless, don't care about anyone or anything))

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My personal experience:

My mother can usually tell just by looking at my face if I have forgotten my injection. She'll come over, take one look at me and raise her eyebrows at my boyfriend and say...how many days? And he and I look at each other (me looking annoyed!) and then she's usually bang on. (bloody annoying when your mother actually is ALWAYS right! LOL!)

I truly cannot live without my injections. Pernicious anemia is a fatal disease, those with pernicious anemia risk paralysis and death if they abstain from injections long enough. My doctor has warned me that if I skip as little as 3 months I will have permanent neural damage and death within 6 months.

So, I am often a few days late, but I never skip it and I monitor my levels with frequent testing.

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As for iron deficiency, its easy to correct by taking a supplement. Most women are iron deficient, on and off - given our menstruation blood loss. I prefer Floradix, a liquid supplement that is easy on the digestion as it is a plant extract.

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Magnesium is a hormonal regulator. A deficiency in magnesium will cause fatigue, sleep disruption, menstrual disfunction, infertility and weight gain.

Again, easy to adress with supplementation.

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I don't know much about other deficiencies, like vitamin D deficiency or A, E deficiency. But a good herbal gluten free supplement can help. Omega 3 (fish oil pills) are also a good idea.

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To make a long story short, I would suggest starting with a blood test to identify the culprit. You may also simply be dehydrated, or sleep deprived. Most people with kids are!

namaste

[amybeth]

I get B12 injections monthly. I accidentally skipped a month and felt a drastic difference. When I was first diagnosed my levels were so low, I needed to get weekly injections.

I haven't been able to bring myself to self-inject, yet.........

After about 10 months of monthly injections I feel much less fatigued than I used to, but I think I'm still much more fatigued than the "average" person.

[Robix]

II haven't been able to bring myself to self-inject, yet.........

After about 10 months of monthly injections I feel much less fatigued than I used to, but I think I'm still much more fatigued than the "average" person.

Hi Amy,

It took me a few years to get the guts to self-inject and most of the time my boyfriend does it for me. I found my injections were more regular when I could take 2 minutes at home rather than 3 hours or longer to get it done by a doctor. At your next appointment you can get your doctor to give someone close to you the "injection 101" demonstration, and then do it yourself.

I had to play around with the injection schedule, I found that once a month was not enough (maybe because I exercise so much?) the last week would be an agony of exhaustion so I brought it up to every 3 weeks and make sure I time it either before or after my period when I have the biggest energy drop. This seems to be my magic formula - I would assume this would vary from person to person.

When I was pregnant and nursing my ob-gyn stepped it up to every 2 weeks, so it does seem to depend on your body's requirement, rather than a set schedule that applies to everyone.

If you are still chronically fatigued - it may be something more than the B-serums. Have you had your follow-up blood panel? You should get one after 6 months, and then one year on the injections. They might see a secondary deficiency (like Iron) at work. In theory, once your B-serums are in balance, the fatigue should go away.

Take care and PM-me if you want to chat. Pernicious anemia is hard - I got to hate that damned needle so much I would cry every time, not from the pain, but from the helplessness I felt by being subjected mercilessly to that needle. I went through periods where I would just shake until it was done.

Now I don't mind it anymore - I accept it finally, I guess.

Take care -

[sillyyak]

I am going to the doctor on Monday. I feel like it is not soon enough! You guys scared me with the pernicious anemia comments and death!

[Robix]

Hi there,

Sorry for scaring you - it was unintentional - I should have been more specific (I just assume everyone knows the difference between pernicious anemia and vitamin deficiency, when really, its so rare, most doctors don't quite understand it! LOL! I forget I'm not talking to myself!).

Pernicious anemia is a disease, it is the body's inability to process the full range of B vitamins, these are mostly found in red meats. In this case the only solution is to inject it into the bloodstream. It is an incurable and lifelong disease. Failure to inject leads to neural failure and eventually paralysis and death. This very rarely happens anymore as it is such an easy condition to treat.

Vitamin B deficiency is when someone, for temporary reasons, is lacking B-vitamins in their system. Either because they aren't ingesting enough, they have a gastro-intestinal condition interfering with absorption, or a stomach virus or cancer. Many runners will have vitamin b-deficiency because their system needs so much of it, and they aren't ingesting enough. In this case the solution can be to change the diet to eat more red meat, to add Bvitamins in one form or another (soluble, pill-form, sub-lingual, injections, etc). It is a temporary and easily solvable deficiency. WHen B-levels are up, and the predisposition adressed, this condition goes away.

You may very well be vitamin b deficient, but odds are you don't have pernicious anemia.

I hope this was less confusing...and reassured you. You probably just need a really good multi-vitamin!

Namaste, be well, and hope you find energy very soon.

[loraleena]

I would get your thyroid and adrenal levels checked also.

[Matilda]

I get fatigued by getting glutened. I don't think it's a nutritional thing because it happens too quickly. The feeling of total physical and mental exhaustion is one of the things that tells me I've had some gluten somewhere.

[tiredofdoctors]

I used to give myself injections. I started with having to have one every day for a month, then down to every other day, then down to once a week. Once my levels straightened out, they've done pretty well. You can also take B12 by mouth, but it has to be done under your tongue. B12 is pretty much completely destroyed by the acid in your stomach. If you put it under your tongue, however, it will be absorbed by your bloodstream by the mucous membranes there. (That's why nitroglycerin works for heart attack patients) You can buy it, I know, at GNC, but I DON'T know if it's gluten-free. Any type of B12 vitamin that you buy, if you're going to take it by mouth, you want it to say "Sublingual" (it means, "under the tongue"). It's not quite as efficient as taking the injections, and may take more/or longer to work, but is still the same stuff. Good luck to you!

P.S. Jabbing yourself in the leg gets pretty easy after a few times! The first time, you think, "I'm going to do WHAT?????" But then it gets better . . . . . ! Lynne