I was diagnosed with a thyroid problem in my early twenties. After gaining thirty pounds in two months while sleeping sixteen hours a day and sinking into a deep depression, one quick visit to the doctor solved the problem. Some thyroid meds and a vitamin cocktail got me back on track in about a month. I never lost the thirty pounds, but I felt great. I attributed my recovery to the thyroid pill and I discounted the role of the vitamins he prescribed. Gradually over time, the thyroid pill stayed but the vitamins went by the wayside.
As soon as I suspected I was pregnant three years ago, I immediately loaded up on prenatal vitamins and supplements. My doctor even prescribed additional pills, like iron and vitamin D, since she felt my levels were too low. During my pregnancy, I felt great. Truly. I think that was the best I ever felt in my adult life. After Punky's birth, I kept taking the vitamins for months while I nursed. Shortly thereafter though, the vitamins got pushed aside once again.
Lately I've been feeling like...crap, to be honest. I'm tired. All the time. No matter how much sleep I get, I still feel exhausted. I ache. Sometimes it's muscle pain, sometimes it's joint pain, sometimes it's mystery pains here and there. I've been sick for months, one cold/infection after another. My little girl wants me to run, jump, dance, and carry her on my shoulders. I want to rest on the couch. Something has to change.
So, I thought about the times in my life when I really felt my best, and deduced that maybe the vitamins and supplements played a more important role than I thought. I mean, I don't always eat as healthy as I should. I don't get nearly enough exercise as I should. I don't consistently get the amount of sleep as I should. It's hard. I'm gone to work fifty hours a week, juggling housework and other necessary evils, and raising a two-year-old. My time is limited these days.
I spent some time in the vitamin aisle this weekend. I carefully selected my cocktail based on past concoctions that seemed to work and headed home to line my bathroom counter with expensive, colorful, little bottles. One multivitamin to cover most of the bases, one huge bottle of calcium with vitamin D to help ward off the onset of osteoarthritis I'm bound to inherit from my mother, one bottle of B-12 to hopefully give me the energy I need to peel my ass of the couch, and one bottle of fish oil because it may help the joint pain I mentioned and improve my memory (which downright sucks lately).
The multivitamin is big, but it's understandable. There's a lot of stuff in there. The calcium pills, though, are insanely huge, like horse pill huge. I normally don't have a problem swallowing pills, but these suckers get stuck in my throat every time. I need to invest in one of those pill chopper things before I choke to death, and damn that makes me feel old. No one under sixty should own one of those contraptions.
I made a cardinal mistake with the fish oil: I stuck my nose in the bottle. I wanted to puke. I hate fish and can't stomach the smell. I should've known better than to whiff those pills; now I have to fight my gag reflex every time I try to swallow one. And I have to say, they're not exactly tiny either. The only one I manage to get down with ease is the B-12. It's smaller than an aspirin and doesn't gross me out one bit.
My hope is that I will feel better after ingesting all this crap for a few weeks, which in turn should give me more energy, which should lead to more activity, which may lead to some weight loss, which would leave me feeling even better. About everything.
But first, I have to remember to take the damn things. And it would help if Punky's dad would stop cooking such awesome meals. And a little bit of sunshine and warm weather wouldn't hurt a bit for some energy-inducing motivation.
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