Vitamins

[ragamufin]

Ok, I struggled with this issue for years and it just got worse over
time. During my research through the web trying to identify and solve
my problems I found this group which exactly detailed the symptoms I
was going through and so now that I'm doing better I'd like to report
back to the group. For the record I'm a 30 year old male.

So I was going through several symptoms most notably migraines after
physical activity. I also have TMJ and tinnitus. What really got me
searching for solutions was that I play a lot of sports (soccer
mainly) and lately it had gotten so bad that if I played a game
(especially in the sun) then by the time I got home I would experience
visual auras just as described in this group and then eventually
ending in a debilitating migraine. Not always, but increasingly more
frequently. Drinking lots of water helped, food and sleep. However
even when I didn't get migraines I would just have a general sense of
malaise. It was getting so bad that even without physical activity I
had the visual auras and they would get worse as the day went on and
some days I would end up with a migraine without having gone to the
gym or played any sport.

So I went to my general doctor and tried to explain everything. She
had my blood and urine tested and then sent me off on appointments to
see doctors in internal medicine, audiology and opthalmology.
Eventually I saw a neurologist. None of them offered me any help or
details. I was quite disheartened, not to mention disappointed in
medicine. So I continued researching things on my own, google,
wikipedia, etc. you know, the modern day poor man's doc.

I forgot to mention that I'm also a vegetarian and I'd begun to wonder
if that was the problem, I mentioned and re-mentioned that to each doc
I saw but all my tests had shown me to be healthy and they didn't
think that that was a problem. Anyway, I ran across some things in one
of my research quests that were specific to vegetarians / vegans that
indicated that there is no way for us to get vitamin B-12 and folic
acid from a plant only diet. In fact something said that roughly 5
years or so after becoming a vegetarian you'd deplete all your B-12
and folic acid stores if you haven't been getting it through some
other means. I stopped eating meat about 6 years or so ago. Some of
the symptoms mentioned were just what I was experiencing especially
when I saw that "malaise" was one of the symptoms, as I said I would
list that as the main problem I was having, just a lack of energy and
just feeling like my body was struggling to do things it used to do
easily. I always felt that the scintillating scotoma only came on when
I exerted myself some and it was taking less and less activity to
cause the problem. My general doc said that as we get older our bodies
slow down and so forth but this was way too much too quickly.

Anyway, the only way for us veggies to get our B-12 and folic acid is
via supplements and fortified foods. I thought this was a long shot,
I'd heard time and time again that the body doesn't really do so well
at consuming vitamins and such that come over the counter versus from
food directly. I started taking a daily multi-vitamin (Centrum Cardio
twice a day to be exact) which contains far more B-12 than I need. I
even got B-12 pills that you place under your tongue from a nearby GM
shop. Lo and behold, within days I felt better. Tons better. In fact I
realize now how badly I was feeling by just how good I feel now. I had
stopped going to the gym to do my weekly runs because my body just
couldn't handle that as well as the sports I played on weekends
otherwise I'd just be in bed moping, tilting my head to one side
trying to survive the pain of migraines or even if I didn't get the
scotoma and migraines I just felt tired and as if I had no energy. I
started back up with the gym and have been to soccer tournaments and
even played more than one game a day (something I just hadn't been
able to do anymore) and I feel great afterward. I even notice my hair
which was receding faster it seemed lately appearing to grow more than
usual in the receding parts. Weird. I also don't notice my tinnitus
much anymore. It had gotten so bad that a few nights I couldn't sleep
because the ringing in my ear was so annoying.

So I hope that long diatribe helps someone. It took a lot of doctor
visits and searches, querying my friends, watching what I eat, how I
sleep to finally find the problem. I still can't believe that just
taking multi-vitamins and eating fortified cereals could make such a
change. I thought maybe it was just a placebo effect but it's been
months now and I feel great. I don't wake up feeling as if I'm already
a little tired and I hope to never again see those zig zag shimmering
lines in my vision working their way from the outside-in.

The neurologist that I saw as well as my general doc, their solution
was to prescribe migraine medication. I tried very hard to explain to
them that my problem was not migraines but that I felt as if the
migraines were just a symptom of my real problem but they were of no
help. It seems they just latch on to anything specific you say and
then try to treat the symptom versus looking for the actual problem.
Case and point, one asked me if I was depressed or anything and I
joked that no but I'm getting depressed because I've been so sick for
so long and with no help in sight. She then offered to get me a
referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist fully implying that my
problems were being caused by something psychological. I thought to
myself how did she get to that conclusion from what I said.

Anyway, it's been about 2 months now and I've only had 2 mild
headaches in that time, no migraines. I'm back in the gym and play
sports liberally and feel great afterward. It's nice to relax with my
friends after a game versus driving home and trying to squeeze in
water, a shower and a meal before my body crashes. Now if only this
B-12 and folic acid stuff could fix my twisted ankle.

[Guiwenneth]

Hmm, that is weird. I just had an ss, and after reading your post I
realized that the only thing I had consumed this morning just prior to
it was an under the tongue B vitamin complex.

[ragamufin]

Did you consume it with a meal, I was advised to only take vitamins
including the under the tongue kind after eating. Another thing worth
mentioning is someone else reported that gluten also brings on their
ss and I noticed that after eating breads and things like that that I
was more susceptible to an attack.