Lots of people feel unnaturally tired a lot of the time. They wake up tired, spend the day feeling tired, and are so tired that they can't sleep.

Some people are simply over-working - fitting too much into the day and not sleeping enough at night. Some are in stressful or traumatic situations, and this is causing their tiredness. For both of these, you can only solve the problem by getting out of the situation. Humans need sleep and recreation!

But for everyone who can't identify a reason why they are tired, it could be B12 deficiency (and some people may be in stressful situations because they are tired from B12 deficiency, which won't be stressful when they have replacement therapy!)

Why does it happen?

Vitamin B12 is needed for energy production (the Krebbs Cycle), and without B12, you just feel as though you've run out of energy. There's a nervous component too, which is also due to B12 deficiency.

Diagnosing B12 deficiency

The best and most reliable way to diagnose B12 deficiency is from the symptoms. Tiredness or fatigue can be called a number of different things, including ME, post-viral Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and so on. This is a description of the symptoms, but doesn’t tell you the cause - which could be vitamin B12 deficiency. If you have a range of symptoms as well as tiredness, for example including pins and needles or numbness in hands, feet or face; digestion problems; then it is quite likely that it is B12 deficiency.

Treatment for B12 deficiency

Treatment for B12 deficiency is very simple - supplement your B12! But there are a few useful tips:

1. many people need injections - tablets don't work for them
2. use hydroxocobalamin or methylcobalamin (or adenosylcobalamin) ; cyanocobalamin doesn’t work for most people
3. vitamin B12 is completely save even at levels 100million times more than your supplements. But it isn't a medicine so keep taking medication until your doctor says that you can stop