Vitamin deficiency. Never imagined myself having this problem.
The first signs of it was pain in my right cheek. Desperate to track down the source, I resorted to playing dentist. Gingerly, I tapped all my teeth. Nada. Nothing. Depression hovered close by.
Googling the symptoms (hey! can you blame me?) only conjured up darker visions of bleeding gums, plunging me into a hellhole of depression. Which was how I came to be sitting in the dentist’s chair on a Friday afternoon. Nada. Again.
“Does the pain keep you up at night?” asked the patient dentist. Me – shake head vigoriously.
“Nothing wrong with your teeth,” declared my friendly dentist after a spell under the glaring spotlight. Which was good and bad.
So what was wrong with me. Turn to Google againlah!
Fortunately, something propelled me to use new search words. “tingling pain” and “cheek”. By the way, did you know that people with “tingling pain” in “cheek buttocks” like to talk about it online? *Shudder*
Back to my story. Seems I had overlooked other symptoms. A tongue that itched occasionally, pain that went right up to the bone beneath my eye (which I had thought was odd), depression (thot I was menopausal for a minute – which brought on more depression), jolts of pain/tingling in hand, fatigue, pronounced breathing problems, etc.
Silly me had also totally ignored the fact that I had turned vegetarian just three weeks beforehand. And not bothered to increase intake of dairy products. Plus no eggs for a week as I had toyed the idea of giving that up to.
Which all lead to a deficiency in Vitamin B12.
Yes, yes, it’s dangerous to turn to Dr. Google. However, in this case, it helped.
I learnt how vegetarians suffer from lack of B12 and what happens when you don’t top up on it. The hard way.
Ironically enough, I had been feeling pretty smug, assuming I had covered all my nutrient needs. Made sure my diet has a variety of different coloured fruits and vegetables, soya, grains, etc. Darn it!
Converting from being a four day per week vegetarian to a 24/7 vegetarian was supposed to be a cinch. Didn’t recall other vegetarian friends having this problem so naturally wasn’t prepared for it.
Now, I’m going to have to do some serious reading up on being a vegetarian. Let me know if you have some good leads, well u?
Friday, June 11, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
A invisible weight has been lifted
It is true. I had this strong feeling that an invisible weight has been lifted off me just after one week of opting to turn into a full-time vegetarian (on 9th April).
Even stranger - several negative feelings had just dissipated into thin air.
At the top of the list was the mysterious disappearance of that gnawing need of wanting to murder irritants that cross my path (this includes the unidentified balcony-crapping-cat). There there was the lack of anxiety about upcoming events.
Turning vegetarian was a decision made with much trepidation. On top of the still-present dominant yearning for butter prawns, mouth-watering rojak and thick fish curry, I had assumed it would be a rocky road. It has proven to be otherwise.
It’s not like a miracle has occurred where I no longer have cravings for calamari rings done just right or spicy chicken peretal. Fortunately for mua, there are many vegetarian substitutes that keep my cravings under control. Like vegetarian rice served with hot pungent spicy petai & vegetarian pan mee that I can devour right here in Taipan.
Which brings to mind what the Bhagavad Gita says. What is bitter at the starts turns into nectar at the end, and vice versa.
Speaking of religion, my Vedanta Class teacher insists that vegetarians can knock off into the dreamland a whole lot faster.
A quick google revealed that some vegetarians had better sleep, i.e., they felt more rested. Others begged to differ on the matter. I still toss and turn as a million thots swirl in my agitated meat-deprived mind.
The well-read guruji had more to impart, sorta dashing my hopes of being way more satvic (i.e it’s like being more pure, unblemished, like a brand new unused whiteboard) as there is way more to being vegetarian than meets the eye.
None had warned me that by foregoing meat, I would be at the foothills of a brand new unexplored mountain. Instead of like a valiant conqueror at the peak.
Here are some of the things that I picked up during the Vedanta class and from my fav source – the Internet:
· Cooked food should be consumed within four hours.
If I do follow it, it means I’d have to rule out the popular pungent Indian pickles, Chinese pickled vegetables, pre-cooked food, fried tempeh, potato chips, etc. Groan!
· Spicy and sour vegetarian fare does quite not fall under the satvic category.
Double sigh!
· Onion and garlic, along with a host of other favs, ignites passion. Which gets in the way of meditation. Which is what leads to enlightenment. Which, as a Hindu, is what I need to break this cycle of life and birth. Triple darn!
To follow or not to follow the new rules?
It remains to be seen. It is a major achievement for me to have given up meat. Doesn’t mean I’m going to give it all up be satvic immediately. Or should I?
What would you do?
Even stranger - several negative feelings had just dissipated into thin air.
At the top of the list was the mysterious disappearance of that gnawing need of wanting to murder irritants that cross my path (this includes the unidentified balcony-crapping-cat). There there was the lack of anxiety about upcoming events.
Turning vegetarian was a decision made with much trepidation. On top of the still-present dominant yearning for butter prawns, mouth-watering rojak and thick fish curry, I had assumed it would be a rocky road. It has proven to be otherwise.
It’s not like a miracle has occurred where I no longer have cravings for calamari rings done just right or spicy chicken peretal. Fortunately for mua, there are many vegetarian substitutes that keep my cravings under control. Like vegetarian rice served with hot pungent spicy petai & vegetarian pan mee that I can devour right here in Taipan.
Which brings to mind what the Bhagavad Gita says. What is bitter at the starts turns into nectar at the end, and vice versa.
Speaking of religion, my Vedanta Class teacher insists that vegetarians can knock off into the dreamland a whole lot faster.
A quick google revealed that some vegetarians had better sleep, i.e., they felt more rested. Others begged to differ on the matter. I still toss and turn as a million thots swirl in my agitated meat-deprived mind.
The well-read guruji had more to impart, sorta dashing my hopes of being way more satvic (i.e it’s like being more pure, unblemished, like a brand new unused whiteboard) as there is way more to being vegetarian than meets the eye.
None had warned me that by foregoing meat, I would be at the foothills of a brand new unexplored mountain. Instead of like a valiant conqueror at the peak.
Here are some of the things that I picked up during the Vedanta class and from my fav source – the Internet:
· Cooked food should be consumed within four hours.
If I do follow it, it means I’d have to rule out the popular pungent Indian pickles, Chinese pickled vegetables, pre-cooked food, fried tempeh, potato chips, etc. Groan!
· Spicy and sour vegetarian fare does quite not fall under the satvic category.
Double sigh!
· Onion and garlic, along with a host of other favs, ignites passion. Which gets in the way of meditation. Which is what leads to enlightenment. Which, as a Hindu, is what I need to break this cycle of life and birth. Triple darn!
To follow or not to follow the new rules?
It remains to be seen. It is a major achievement for me to have given up meat. Doesn’t mean I’m going to give it all up be satvic immediately. Or should I?
What would you do?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)