This may be muddled as I've been absolutely zonked out all day, mostly asleep in fact, since I took a couple of painkillers 9 hours ago.
I don't really understand how the methylation protocol works or what it's about because I haven't been able to find any explanation of it that's short and simple enough to make sense to me. I can't afford testing and can only afford minimal supplements. I gathered from this forum that methyl-B12 was a good thing to try, so I ordered some Jarrow 1mg. I started on 1/4 tablet a few weeks ago, then bumped it up to 1/2 tablet after a week, then up to 1 tablet after another week, then the reaction hit. Fatigue far worse, sleeping more than usual, achier than usual, mild constipation and I think it's made my dry eyes flare up as well. I hastily returned to 1/2 tablet, dissolved properly under the tongue in the morning. This was two weeks ago.
I was stupidly doing this at the same time as lowering gabapentin, but they've been lowering the gabapentin for months now (I'd been up to 3000mg) and it wasn't doing anything more dramatic than insomnia, so I'd sort of forgotten to take it into consideration as something that could make matters worse. I got to 900mg a fortnight ago, actually it might be 3 weeks (I'll check later), and have been staying on that as we want to see how I do on that dose for pain. By this point I'd been taking valerian in the evening for sleep, something I've taken safely in the past, but I've now reduced that as my ability to get to sleep has been improving again. I'm sleeping for much longer than usual now, though, 11-12 hours I think, and it's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering having my support workers come later than their usual 12pm until this changes. Before this hit, I was getting up at 8-9 am most of the time.
I should also mention that I went to a family wedding in mid-November, and haven't quite shaken the effects of that off just yet. There's been a certain amount of stress in the household as a result of my partner's father being seriously ill this winter. Also I have gallstones and am due to see a surgeon about probably removing my gallbladder in a month. I haven't had a gallstone attack in a while, I've been controlling it through low-fat diet. Oh yes, and I've been (deliberately) losing weight at a nice slow pace since April, but I've actually been feeling a bit better on that, mainly showing up by being able to have showers far more consistently in the morning. The weight loss is very nearly over, and I've actually bumped up my calories a bit for the time being in order to reduce any stress on my system. This may sound like a lot, but round here it's fairly normal, there's always something going on!
Anyway, right now I seem to be completely bushed. My hormones have gone crazy this cycle (I have PMDD, it's one reason why I needed to lose weight), with very nasty (and somewhat odd) breast pain and migraine before my period, though no anxiety this cycle. My basal temps have been more erratic than usual, which as I recall reflects progesterone levels. I've been getting pain coming from what feels like a point in my left shoulder, from a muscle I think, and it's been radiating up and about quite a lot as well as setting off the migraine. The migraine's gone but the shoulder's still hurting quite a lot and I haven't been able to improve it despite careful stretching and so forth. If the pain was a bit to the left, I'd think it was calcific tendinitis as I do tend to get that flaring up from time to time, but it's in the wrong position. So this morning I woke up, the shoulder was really nasty, and I took two 30/500 co-codamol and one 2mg valium, which is what I use for severe muscle pain, though not too often. Thankfully it actually worked (it hasn't been working as well this week), but I fell asleep again shortly afterwards and have been asleep for most of the day and very dozy for the rest. Admittedly one reason why I don't use those meds too often is because they can be unpredictable in this way, but it's really rare for them to knock me out this much.
I realise I'm throwing a lot at you, but can anyone advise me how the B12 may be playing into this? I also ordered some Solgar Metafolin which arrived this morning, but I have no idea whether or not I should take that to help whatever is going on, or taper down the B12 and postpone trying this protocol until I have less going on. I recently noticed Fredd's posts about avoiding folic acid, and did wonder if that's a factor. I've been taking a multivitamin with folic acid in it for years, I've never actually noticed it making any difference whatsoever to my health. I also started the Country Life Co-Enzyme B Complex, which includes folic acid, hmm, about 6 weeks ago I think (can check that later too).
I'd be really grateful for any advice!
I don't really understand how the methylation protocol works or what it's about because I haven't been able to find any explanation of it that's short and simple enough to make sense to me. I can't afford testing and can only afford minimal supplements. I gathered from this forum that methyl-B12 was a good thing to try, so I ordered some Jarrow 1mg. I started on 1/4 tablet a few weeks ago, then bumped it up to 1/2 tablet after a week, then up to 1 tablet after another week, then the reaction hit. Fatigue far worse, sleeping more than usual, achier than usual, mild constipation and I think it's made my dry eyes flare up as well. I hastily returned to 1/2 tablet, dissolved properly under the tongue in the morning. This was two weeks ago.
I was stupidly doing this at the same time as lowering gabapentin, but they've been lowering the gabapentin for months now (I'd been up to 3000mg) and it wasn't doing anything more dramatic than insomnia, so I'd sort of forgotten to take it into consideration as something that could make matters worse. I got to 900mg a fortnight ago, actually it might be 3 weeks (I'll check later), and have been staying on that as we want to see how I do on that dose for pain. By this point I'd been taking valerian in the evening for sleep, something I've taken safely in the past, but I've now reduced that as my ability to get to sleep has been improving again. I'm sleeping for much longer than usual now, though, 11-12 hours I think, and it's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering having my support workers come later than their usual 12pm until this changes. Before this hit, I was getting up at 8-9 am most of the time.
I should also mention that I went to a family wedding in mid-November, and haven't quite shaken the effects of that off just yet. There's been a certain amount of stress in the household as a result of my partner's father being seriously ill this winter. Also I have gallstones and am due to see a surgeon about probably removing my gallbladder in a month. I haven't had a gallstone attack in a while, I've been controlling it through low-fat diet. Oh yes, and I've been (deliberately) losing weight at a nice slow pace since April, but I've actually been feeling a bit better on that, mainly showing up by being able to have showers far more consistently in the morning. The weight loss is very nearly over, and I've actually bumped up my calories a bit for the time being in order to reduce any stress on my system. This may sound like a lot, but round here it's fairly normal, there's always something going on!
Anyway, right now I seem to be completely bushed. My hormones have gone crazy this cycle (I have PMDD, it's one reason why I needed to lose weight), with very nasty (and somewhat odd) breast pain and migraine before my period, though no anxiety this cycle. My basal temps have been more erratic than usual, which as I recall reflects progesterone levels. I've been getting pain coming from what feels like a point in my left shoulder, from a muscle I think, and it's been radiating up and about quite a lot as well as setting off the migraine. The migraine's gone but the shoulder's still hurting quite a lot and I haven't been able to improve it despite careful stretching and so forth. If the pain was a bit to the left, I'd think it was calcific tendinitis as I do tend to get that flaring up from time to time, but it's in the wrong position. So this morning I woke up, the shoulder was really nasty, and I took two 30/500 co-codamol and one 2mg valium, which is what I use for severe muscle pain, though not too often. Thankfully it actually worked (it hasn't been working as well this week), but I fell asleep again shortly afterwards and have been asleep for most of the day and very dozy for the rest. Admittedly one reason why I don't use those meds too often is because they can be unpredictable in this way, but it's really rare for them to knock me out this much.
I realise I'm throwing a lot at you, but can anyone advise me how the B12 may be playing into this? I also ordered some Solgar Metafolin which arrived this morning, but I have no idea whether or not I should take that to help whatever is going on, or taper down the B12 and postpone trying this protocol until I have less going on. I recently noticed Fredd's posts about avoiding folic acid, and did wonder if that's a factor. I've been taking a multivitamin with folic acid in it for years, I've never actually noticed it making any difference whatsoever to my health. I also started the Country Life Co-Enzyme B Complex, which includes folic acid, hmm, about 6 weeks ago I think (can check that later too).
I'd be really grateful for any advice!