So my health has been a long and arduous journey from the start. I went for years being diagnosed with depression and shuffled from antidepressant to antidepressant or unmedicated until I finally- FINALLY got someone to listen to me. It wasn't my psychiatrist, or my doctor- it was his nurse practitioner. I was referred to a psychiatrist who was a friend of hers who correctly diagnosed me with bipolar disorder. I am medicated for this now and I have been for a while and my mood swings have been under control ever since.

However, I have been suffering from increasing exhaustion over the years as well- I got tired roughly the same time as I got diagnosed with depression, and again, nobody took me seriously until two weeks ago. I got to the point where getting out of bed was genuinely difficult and I couldn't function properly. Being tired sounds to some people like no big deal, but when I'm in danger of losing my job because I can never get out of bed to make it on time it's definitely a big deal.

I tried time and time again to get my family doctor to listen to me and he basically said 'you'll be fine with a vitamin B shot.' I was not fine with a vitamin B shot no matter how many I got. I get my thyroid tested regularly for lithium so I knew it wasn't a thyroid problem. I got tested specifically for my thyroid and I was right- not the problem. I didn't know what was wrong with me, so eventually I turned to my friend who is a surgeon at Vanderbilt and she said here- go to this doctor. This is the doctor I go to. And I was like okay, but I wasn't sure what he could do to help me.

He diagnosed me in one week.

I'd been taking tests to figure out what was wrong for YEARS- remember this for this next revelation- and it turns out it's NOT my vitamin B level- it's my vitamin D level. It's at a 7. It should be around a 50. Apparently it's so low it was almost undetectable. So out of all the years I've spent money going to this doctor and paying for tests... all of it... it was something so simple, but because my family doctor never took me seriously it's taken this long to diagnose it. It explains my exhaustion, my headaches- everything.

So I'm on some heavy duty vitamin D supplements- one I take weekly and one I take daily- and my health is improving. I'm finding that as my health improves, my inspiration is coming back! It felt so good to paint last night, even if it wasn't very good. Hopefully my abilities will improve back to what they were before this sickness took over my life and soon I hope to be posting here more often. Phew. Long story.

Moral of the story- make sure your doctors of all kinds are actually taking you seriously and taking your best interests to heart. I've learned this twice now- talk until someone listens.