3 Vital Vitamins for Energy and Wellness Over 60 — What Your Doctor Isn’t Testing
Feeling constant fatigue, brain fog, and muscle weakness? Many men over 60 assume it’s just aging — but it’s often caused by three vitamin deficiencies your doctor may never test for. I’m Dr. James Whittaker, and today I’ll reveal how correcting these hidden deficiencies can restore your energy, testosterone levels, and vitality naturally.
In this video, you’ll learn:
* The three key vitamins that control energy, brain clarity, and strength
* Why men over 60 are most at risk
* The specific lab tests your doctor should order
* How low vitamin levels silently affect testosterone and sexual health
* Evidence-based supplementation plans
* A real patient story showing recovery in just eight weeks
The 3 Vital Vitamins:
1. Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)
Essential for red blood cell production, brain function, and healthy nerves.
Most older men develop B12 deficiency due to lower stomach acid and medication use.
Symptoms include extreme fatigue, brain fog, numbness, and low mood.
Testing tip: Ask for Methylmalonic Acid (MMA) and Homocysteine — not just serum B12.
Optimal level: Above 500 pg/mL.
Treatment: Methylcobalamin 1000–2000 mcg daily or B12 injections for advanced deficiency.
2. Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol)
This “sun hormone” is crucial for testosterone production, muscle function, immune strength, and energy.
Men over 60 produce 75% less vitamin D from sunlight.
Symptoms include low energy, muscle weakness, low mood, and reduced libido.
Test: 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
Optimal range: 40–60 ng/mL.
Treatment: 2000–5000 IU daily with Vitamin K2 for better absorption.
3. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Often overlooked, but critical for energy metabolism and nerve health.
Diabetes, diuretics, and alcohol use drain thiamine levels.
Symptoms include chronic fatigue, leg weakness, poor concentration, and irritability.
Treatment: Thiamine 100–300 mg daily or Benfotiamine 300–600 mg for enhanced absorption.
Dorothy’s Real-Life Case Study
Dorothy, 68, struggled with exhaustion and depression for years. Her tests showed low B12 and vitamin D, with possible thiamine deficiency. After eight weeks of proper supplementation, she regained her energy, her mood lifted, and she felt 15 years younger.
Optimal Test Values
* Vitamin B12: Over 500 pg/mL
* Methylmalonic Acid: Below 270 nmol/L
* Homocysteine: Below 10 μmol/L
* Vitamin D: 40–60 ng/mL
Supplements at a Glance
* Vitamin B12: 1000–2000 mcg daily or weekly injections
* Vitamin D3 + K2: 2000–5000 IU daily
* Thiamine: 100–300 mg daily or Benfotiamine 300–600 mg
Common Medications That Deplete Vitamins
* PPIs and H2 blockers (for acid reflux): Deplete B12
* Metformin: Depletes B12
* Diuretics: Deplete thiamine
* Alcohol: Depletes thiamine
Warning Signs of Deficiency
If you experience constant fatigue, poor focus, low mood, muscle weakness, numbness in your feet, or lower libido — get tested. These deficiencies often mimic normal aging, but they’re fixable.
Key Takeaways
* Chronic fatigue after 60 is not “normal aging”
* Men with low energy or low testosterone often have low B12, D, or thiamine
* Request advanced tests for accurate results
* Aim for optimal ranges — not just “normal” lab results
* Correcting these deficiencies can reverse years of energy loss
Medical Disclaimer
This educational content is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before starting supplements.
Connect with Dr. Whitaker
Subscribe for more content on senior health, testosterone, and vitality over 60.
Comment below with your age and symptoms — your story may help others.
**#SeniorHealth #MensHealth #TestosteroneAfter60 #VitaminDeficiency #EnergyAfter60 #SeniorWellness #DrJamesWhittaker #HealthyAging #FatigueSolutions #BrainFog #MenOver50 #WellnessOver60 #NutritionalMedicine #EnergyAndVitality**
if you’re over 60 years old and you’re struggling with constant fatigue low energy brain fog muscle weakness or that feeling that you’re aging faster than you should be I need you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you because the root cause of your symptoms is probably not what you think it is you’ve been to your doctor you’ve had blood work done they told you everything looks fine and that feeling tired is just a normal part of getting older so you should learn to accept it and maybe drink more coffee or take a nap in the afternoon but here’s the truth that most doctors either don’t know or don’t bother to investigate there are three specific vitamin deficiencies that are absolutely epidemic in people over 60 these deficiencies are causing devastating effects on your energy levels your physical function your cognitive performance and your overall health and the standard blood tests that your doctor orders are completely missing these deficiencies I’m Doctor James Whittaker a board certified physician with over 20 years of clinical experience and today I’m going to reveal the three vital vitamins that determine whether you thrive or merely survive after age sixty I’m going to explain exactly why deficiency of these vitamins is so common and so devastating in older adults I’m going to tell you the specific tests you need to request from your doctor because they won’t order them automatically and I’m going to give you evidence based strategies for optimizing your levels of these critical nutrients so you can reclaim the energy and vitality you thought were gone forever before we dive into this life changing information please hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications so you never miss any of my evidence based health content and I want you to drop a comment below letting me know what country you’re watching from and whether you’re currently struggling with low energy and fatigue because I love connecting with viewers around the world and understanding the health challenges you’re facing now let me start by telling you about Dorothy a 68 year old retired librarian who came to see me about 14 months ago because she was convinced something was seriously wrong with her health but none of her doctors could figure out what it was Dorothy told me that over the previous two years she had experienced a dramatic decline in her energy levels to the point where she was exhausted all the time despite getting eight or nine hours of sleep every night she had brain fog so severe that she was having trouble concentrating on reading which had always been her greatest pleasure she was experiencing muscle weakness and had fallen twice in the past six months which terrified her she had numbness and tingling in her feet that was getting progressively worse she felt depressed and anxious which was completely out of character for her and perhaps most concerning she just felt like she was aging rapidly and losing her independence and quality of life Dorothy had seen her primary care physician multiple times about these symptoms and each time she was told that her blood work was normal and that what she was experiencing was just normal aging her doctor had prescribed an antidepressant for her mood symptoms and had suggested she might benefit from seeing a therapist to help her accept the limitations that come with getting older Dorothy was frustrated and desperate because she knew in her gut that what she was experiencing was not normal and she didn’t want to just accept feeling terrible for the rest of her life when I reviewed Dorothy’s medical records and her previous lab work I immediately saw the problem that her other doctors had completely missed Dorothy had never been tested for the three critical vitamin deficiencies that I’m going to discuss with you today I ordered the appropriate tests and when the results came back Dorothy had severe deficiency of all three of these vital vitamins we implemented a targeted supplementation protocol to correct these deficiencies and within eight weeks Dorothy felt like a completely different person her energy had returned her brain fog had cleared her muscle strength had improved dramatically the numbness in her feet was resolving and her mood was back to normal Dorothy told me that she felt like she had gotten her life back and she was angry that she had suffered unnecessarily for two years simply because her doctors hadn’t thought to test for these common and easily correctable deficiencies now let me explain the three vital vitamins that make all the difference for energy and wellness after age 60 and I’m going to start with the one that’s most commonly deficient and most devastating in its effects Vitamin B12 also called cobalamin is absolutely essential for energy production nervous system function brain health red blood cell formation and DNA synthesis every single cell in your body requires vitamin B12 to function properly and when you’re deficient the consequences affect virtually every organ system now here’s what makes vitamin B12 deficiency so insidious and so common in people over 60 even if you’re eating plenty of foods that contain B12 you may not be able to absorb it properly because the absorption of vitamin B12 requires several specific factors that decline dramatically with age first you need adequate stomach acid to release B12 from the protein in food second you need a substance called intrinsic factor which is produced by cells in your stomach lining third you need a healthy small intestine where B12 is actually absorbed after age 60 stomach acid production decreases significantly in most people intrinsic factor production declines and the intestinal lining often becomes less efficient at nutrient absorption but it gets worse because there are several very common medications that dramatically impair B12 absorption and create deficiency even faster if you’re taking a proton pump inhibitor like omeprazole or pantoprazole for acid reflux or heartburn these medications virtually eliminate stomach acid production and without stomach acid you cannot release B12 from food if you’re taking metformin for diabetes or pre diabetes this medication directly interferes with B12 absorption in the small intestine if you’re taking H2 blockers like ranitidine or famotidine these also reduce stomach acid and impair B12 absorption millions of people over 60 are taking one or more of these medications every single day and becoming progressively more B12 deficient without anyone ever checking their levels or warning them about this consequence now let me describe the symptoms of B12 deficiency because they are profound and often mistaken for other conditions or dismissed as normal aging the most common and earliest symptom is crushing fatigue and low energy because B12 is essential for your mitochondria to produce cellular energy without adequate B12 your mitochondria cannot efficiently convert the food you eat into the ATP that powers every cellular process in your body so you feel exhausted no matter how much you sleep or rest the second major category of symptoms involves your nervous system because B12 is absolutely critical for maintaining the myelin sheath that insulates your nerve fibers and allows them to transmit signals properly when you’re B12 deficient this myelin sheath deteriorates and you develop what’s called peripheral neuropathy this manifests as numbness tingling burning sensations or pins and needles feelings in your feet and hands many people with B12 deficiency are misdiagnosed with diabetic neuropathy when diabetes isn’t actually the cause at all as the nerve damage progresses you can develop balance problems and difficulty walking because the nerves that provide position sense from your feet to your brain aren’t functioning properly this is why B12 deficient people have an increased risk of falls and serious injuries the third major category of symptoms involves your brain and cognitive function B12 deficiency causes brain fog difficulty concentrating memory problems confusion and in severe cases can even cause symptoms that look exactly like dementia there are documented cases of people who were diagnosed with alzheimer’s disease and placed in nursing homes who actually had severe B12 deficiency and when they were treated with B12 supplementation their cognitive function returned to normal how many people are currently sitting in memory care facilities with a treatable vitamin deficiency instead of true dementia we’ll never know because most of them were never properly tested the fourth major category of symptoms involves mood and mental health B12 is essential for the production of neurotransmitters including serotonin and dopamine and deficiency commonly causes depression anxiety irritability and mood swings many people are prescribed antidepressant medications for depression that’s actually caused by B12 deficiency and the antidepressants don’t work because they’re not addressing the root cause the fifth major category involves your blood cells and circulation B12 is required for red blood cell formation and deficiency causes a specific type of anemia called megaloblastic anemia where your red blood cells are abnormally large and dysfunctional this anemia contributes to the fatigue and also causes weakness shortness of breath pale skin and rapid heartbeat now here’s the critical point that most doctors don’t understand the standard B12 blood test that’s included in routine blood work is inadequate and misses a huge percentage of people who are functionally b12 deficient the standard test measures total b12 in your blood but this doesn’t tell you whether that B12 is actually getting into your cells where it’s needed or whether it’s in a form that your body can use the test you actually need to request is called methylmalonic acid or MMA when your cells don’t have enough usable B12 a substance called methylmalonic acid accumulates in your blood and urine and measuring MMA is a much more sensitive and accurate indicator of true functional B12 status I also recommend testing something called homocysteine which is another substance that accumulates when B12 is deficient so when you see your doctor you need to specifically request serum B12 methylmalonic acid and homocysteine don’t just accept we already tested your B12 and it was normal because that standard test is insufficient now let me give you the optimal ranges you’re aiming for because the laboratory reference ranges are way too broad and allow deficiency to persist for serum B12 you want a level above 500 picograms per milliliter not just above the laboratory lower limit of 200 many people with levels between 200 and 400 are experiencing symptoms of deficiency even though their level is technically in the normal range for methylmalonic acid you want a level below 270 nanomoles per liter for homocysteine you want a level below 10 micromoles per liter and ideally below eight if testing reveals that you’re B12 deficient how do you correct it this depends on the severity of the deficiency and the cause if you have mild deficiency and your absorption mechanisms are still somewhat functional you may be able to correct the deficiency with high dose oral B12 supplements typically 1,000 to 2,000 micrograms daily of methyl cobalamin which is the active form that your body can use directly without having to convert it however if you have moderate to severe deficiency or if you have absorption problems due to low stomach acid lack of intrinsic factor or intestinal issues then oral supplementation may not be adequate because you can’t absorb it properly in these cases you need B12 injections that bypass the digestive system and deliver the vitamin directly into your bloodstream and tissues the typical protocol is 1,000 micrograms injected intramuscularly once weekly for eight weeks to rebuild your stores then once monthly for maintenance some people also use sublingual B12 that dissolves under your tongue and is absorbed directly through the mucous membranes bypassing the need for stomach acid and intrinsic factor this can be an effective middle ground between oral supplements and injections now let me move on to the second vital vitamin and this is one where deficiency is so widespread in people over 60 that it’s reached epidemic proportions yet most doctors still aren’t routinely testing for it or treating it aggressively enough I’m talking about vitamin d and I need you to understand that calling this a vitamin is actually a misnomer because vitamin d functions more like a hormone than a vitamin it has receptors on cells throughout your entire body and it regulates hundreds of different genes and cellular processes vitamin d is absolutely critical for bone health muscle function immune system regulation cardiovascular health brain function mood regulation and cellular energy production there are vitamin d receptors on your mitochondria and adequate vitamin d is necessary for optimal mitochondrial function and ATP production which is why deficiency causes such profound fatigue the reason vitamin d deficiency is so common after age 60 involves multiple factors first your skin’s ability to produce vitamin d in response to sunlight exposure decreases by about 75% between age 20 and age seventy second kidney function declines with age and your kidneys are responsible for converting vitamin d into its active form so even if you’re getting adequate vitamin d your aging kidneys may not be activating it efficiently third many older adults have limited sun exposure because of mobility limitations living in northern latitudes or staying indoors most of the time fourth very few foods naturally contain significant amounts of vitamin d so dietary intake is generally inadequate unless you’re specifically consuming fortified foods or fatty fish several times per week the symptoms of vitamin d deficiency overlap significantly with B12 deficiency which is why many people are deficient in both and why correcting both is often necessary to achieve full restoration of energy and function vitamin d deficiency causes fatigue and low energy muscle weakness and muscle pain bone pain and increased fracture risk increased susceptibility to infections because your immune system can’t function properly without adequate vitamin D depression and mood disorders an increased risk of falls because of the muscle weakness and impaired neuromuscular function there’s also emerging evidence that vitamin d deficiency is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease certain cancers autoimmune diseases and cognitive decline the standard blood test for vitamin d is called 25 hydroxy vitamin D and this should absolutely be part of routine health screening for everyone over 60 yet many doctors still don’t order it unless you specifically request it now here’s where the controversy comes in and it’s important that you understand this the laboratory reference range for vitamin d is typically listed as 30 to 100 nanograms per milliliter with anything above 30 considered sufficient but a growing body of research suggests that optimal levels for health and disease prevention are actually much higher in the range of 40 to 60 nanograms per milliliter and some experts advocate for levels between 50 and eighty the difference between a level of 32 which is technically sufficient according to the lab range and a level of 55 which is optimal can be enormous in terms of how you feel and function many of my patients who felt terrible with levels in the low 30s experienced dramatic improvement in energy muscle strength mood and overall well being when we got their levels up into the 50 to 60 range so when you get your vitamin d tested don’t just accept your level is normal as an adequate answer you need to know the actual number and if it’s below 40 you need to take steps to increase it even if your doctor says it’s fine correcting vitamin d deficiency requires supplementation for virtually everyone over 60 because you simply cannot get adequate amounts from sun exposure and diet alone especially during fall and winter months or if you live in northern latitudes the dose of vitamin d supplementation needed varies considerably from person to person based on your starting level your body weight your genetics and how efficiently your body absorbs and activates vitamin D as a general guideline if your level is below 30 you typically need 5,000 to 10,000 international units daily for eight to 12 weeks to bring your level up into the optimal range then 2,000 to 4,000 IU daily for maintenance if your level is between 30 and 40 you typically need 2,000 to 5,000 IU daily the only way to know if you’re taking the right dose is to retest your level after eight to 12 weeks of supplementation and adjust the dose based on the results I have some patients who need 10,000 IU daily to maintain optimal levels and I have others who only need 2,000 IU daily there’s no one size fits all dose it’s also important to take vitamin d with a meal that contains some fat because vitamin d is fat soluble and absorption is enhanced when taken with dietary fat I also strongly recommend taking vitamin d together with vitamin K2 because these two vitamins work synergistically for bone and cardiovascular health vitamin d increases Calcium absorption and vitamin K2 ensures that Calcium gets deposited in your bones where it belongs rather than in your arteries where it causes problems now let me tell you about the third vital vitamin and this one is the most commonly overlooked and undertreated deficiency I see in my practice yet it has absolutely devastating effects on energy physical function and quality of life in older adults I’m talking about vitamin B1 also called thiamine and the deficiency syndrome has a name that most doctors only vaguely remember from medical school and assume is a disease of severe malnutrition that doesn’t happen in modern developed countries it’s called beriberi and I’m here to tell you that subclinical and clinical thiamine deficiency is far more common than the medical establishment recognizes and it’s causing tremendous suffering that goes undiagnosed and untreated thiamine is absolutely essential for your mitochondria to convert carbohydrates into cellular energy in the form of ATP it’s a critical cofactor for several enzymes in the energy production pathways including pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and without adequate thiamine these energy production pathways cannot function efficiently thiamine is also essential for nervous system function cardiovascular function and cellular metabolism throughout your body now here’s why thiamine deficiency is so common in people over 60 even though we live in a time of food abundance first thiamine is a water soluble vitamin that your body cannot store in large amounts so you need constant adequate intake from your diet second the modern diet of processed foods is severely depleted in thiamine compared to Whole Foods because thiamine is removed during grain processing and is often not adequately replaced by fortification third several very common conditions and medications deplete thiamine if you have diabetes you’re urinating out excess thiamine because high blood glucose increases urinary thiamine excretion if you’re taking diuretic medications for blood pressure or heart failure these medications cause you to lose thiamine in your urine if you consume alcohol even in moderate amounts alcohol interferes with thiamine absorption and increases thiamine requirements if you have any kind of digestive disorder affecting absorption you may not be absorbing thiamine efficiently from food fourth thiamine requirements increase with age and with metabolic stress but intake typically decreases because older adults often eat less and consume more processed convenience foods the symptoms of thiamine deficiency are profound and often mistaken for other conditions or dismissed as normal aging the classic presentation includes three categories of symptoms wet barberry affects the cardiovascular system causing heart failure rapid heart rate shortness of breath and fluid retention dry barberry affects the nervous system causing peripheral neuropathy with numbness and tingling in the feet and hands muscle weakness difficulty walking and pain and cerebral beriberi affects the brain causing confusion memory problems difficulty with coordination abnormal eye movements and in severe cases a condition called Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome which causes permanent brain damage if not treated promptly but here’s what most doctors don’t understand you don’t have to have full blown beriberi to be experiencing devastating symptoms from thiamine deficiency subclinical thiamine deficiency where your levels are low but not critically low causes severe fatigue exercise intolerance muscle weakness brain fog poor concentration irritability depression and a general feeling of being unwell and prematurely aged the problem is that thiamine deficiency is rarely tested for because most doctors simply don’t think about it and when it is tested the standard test is inadequate the standard test measures thiamine concentration in your blood but this doesn’t tell you whether your cells have adequate thiamine for enzymatic function the better test is called erythrocyte transketolase activity or thiamine pyrophosphate effect which measures actual functional thiamine status at the cellular level but this test is rarely ordered and not available at many laboratories in practice what I often do when I suspect thiamine deficiency based on symptoms is implement a therapeutic trial of high dose thiamine supplementation and assess the response if someone has been experiencing severe fatigue exercise intolerance muscle weakness and cognitive dysfunction and they respond dramatically to thiamine supplementation with significant improvement in energy and function within days to weeks then the diagnosis is confirmed by response to treatment even without sophisticated testing the typical supplementation dose for correcting deficiency is 100 to 300 mg of thiamine daily which is far higher than the recommended daily allowance of 1.2 mg but is safe and necessary to correct deficiency and replenish cellular stores some people require even higher doses or benefit from a special form called benfotiamine which is a fat soluble derivative of thiamine that achieves much higher blood and tissue levels than standard water soluble thiamine benfotiamine at doses of 300 to 600 mg daily has been studied specifically for diabetic neuropathy and has shown remarkable results for reducing nerve pain and improving nerve function now let me come back to Dorothy’s story and tell you her specific results because I think it helps to hear about a real patient’s experience when I tested Dorothy’s vitamin levels her serum B12 was 285 picograms per milliliter which is technically in the normal range but is far too low for optimal function and her methylmalonic acid was elevated at 420 nanomoles per liter confirming functional B12 deficiency her vitamin d level was 22 nanograms per milliliter which is deficient by any standard and based on her symptoms and her medical history I strongly suspected thiamine deficiency even though we didn’t have sophisticated testing available I started Dorothy on b12 injections of 1,000 micrograms weekly vitamin d supplementation of 5,000 I U daily with vitamin K2 and thiamine supplementation of 200 mg daily within two weeks Dorothy noticed that her energy was starting to improve and her brain fog was clearing within four weeks she said she felt better than she had in years her muscle strength was improving and the numbness in her feet was getting better within eight weeks Dorothy felt like a completely different person her energy had returned to what she remembered from her 50s her cognitive function was sharp again and she was reading voraciously again her muscle strength had improved so much that she felt confident and stable walking and had no further falls her mood was back to her normal optimistic baseline and she said she felt like she had been given her life back we retested her levels at the three month Mark and her b 12 was up to 680 picograms per milliliter with normal methylmalonic acid and her vitamin d was 58 nanograms per milliliter we transitioned her to monthly B12 injections for maintenance continued her daily vitamin d at 4,000 IU to maintain her level in the optimal range and continued thiamine supplementation Dorothy has now been on this protocol for over a year and she continues to feel wonderful and is living an active engaged life that she thought was no longer possible for her now I want to address some important points about vitamin supplementation because there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation out there first I frequently hear people say that vitamin supplements are a waste of money and that you just create expensive urine if you take vitamins because your body excretes what it doesn’t need this statement is partially true for some vitamins but it’s dangerously misleading when applied to the three vital vitamins I’m discussing today yes B vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble and excess amounts are excreted in urine but this doesn’t mean supplementation is useless if you’re deficient supplementation corrects the deficiency and restores normal function even if some excess is excreted and for thiamine and B12 if you have absorption problems or increased requirements you may need doses far higher than the RDA just to maintain adequate tissue levels second I often hear people say they eat a healthy diet so they don’t need to worry about vitamin deficiencies while a healthy diet is absolutely foundational for good health it is not sufficient to prevent deficiency of these three vitamins in many people over 60 because of the absorption problems activation problems and increased requirements that I’ve described even people who eat extremely well can be deficient in B12 vitamin d and thiamine because of age related changes and medication effects third some people worry about toxicity from vitamin supplementation particularly with vitamin d since it’s fat soluble and can accumulate in your body while it’s true that excessive vitamin d can cause problems toxicity is extremely rare and typically only occurs with prolonged intake of doses above 10,000 IU daily combined with high Calcium intake the doses I’m recommending with monitoring of blood levels are completely safe b vitamins including B12 and thiamine have essentially no toxicity because they’re water soluble and excess is simply excreted fourth quality matters tremendously with supplements because the supplement industry is not well regulated and many products contain inadequate amounts of active ingredients or contain forms of vitamins that are poorly absorbed for B12 you want methocobalamin or hydroxocobalamin not cyanocobalamin which has to be converted to active forms for vitamin D you want vitamin D3 not D2 for thiamine standard thiamine hydrochloride is fine or benfotiamine for enhanced absorption look for reputable manufacturers who use third party testing to verify purity and potency now let me give you a specific action plan that you can implement starting this week step 1 schedule an appointment with your doctor and request the following blood test serum vitamin B12 methlymalonic acid homocysteine 25 hydroxy vitamin d and a complete metabolic panel to assess your kidney and liver function if your doctor is resistant to ordering these tests which unfortunately many doctors are you need to be assertive and explain that you’re experiencing symptoms of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction and you want to rule out vitamin deficiencies before accepting these symptoms as normal aging if your doctor absolutely refuses to order appropriate testing you have two options find a different doctor who will take your concerns seriously or use a direct to consumer lab testing service where you can order your own test without a doctor’s order step 2 while you’re waiting for test results evaluate your diet and your supplement intake are you consuming foods rich in B12 including meat fish eggs and dairy are you getting regular sunlight exposure for vitamin d production are you consuming whole grains and legumes that contain thiamine or are you eating mostly processed foods depleted of thiamine are you currently taking any supplements and if so what forms and doses step 3 when you get your test results don’t just accept everything is normal as adequate information you need to see the actual numbers and compare them to the optimal ranges I’ve given you not just the laboratory reference ranges if your B12 is below 500 your vitamin d is below 40 or you have symptoms suggesting thiamine deficiency you need to implement supplementation step 4 start appropriate supplementation based on your test results and symptoms for B12 deficiency start with either high dose oral methylcobalamin 1,000 to 2,000 micrograms daily or sublingual B12 1,000 to 5,000 micrograms daily or if you have severe deficiency or absorption problems request B12 injections from your doctor for vitamin d deficiency start with 5,000 IU daily if your level is below thirty or 2,000 to 4,000 IU daily if your level is between 30 and 40 and take it with vitamin K2 100 to 200 micrograms daily for suspected thiamine deficiency start with thiamine 100 to 300 mg daily or benfotiamine 300 to 600 mg daily step 5 retest your levels after 8 to 12 weeks of supplementation to confirm that your levels are improving and to adjust doses as needed for B12 and vitamin d you want to see significant improvement toward optimal ranges step 6 once your levels are optimized continue maintenance supplementation indefinitely because the factors that cause deficiency in the first place haven’t gone away and if you stop supplementing deficiency will recur now I want to address the mindset issue that I encounter frequently with patients and this is really important many people over 60 have accepted the message from society and even from their doctors that declining energy declining physical function declining cognitive performance and declining quality of life are just inevitable parts of aging that you need to accept and adapt to this is absolutely false and it’s a tragic mindset that causes unnecessary suffering yes aging involves some physiological changes and some decline in reserve capacity but the dramatic decline in function and quality of life that so many people experience is not inevitable and is often caused by correctable factors including vitamin deficiencies when you correct these deficiencies many people in their 60s 70s and even 80s experience dramatic restoration of energy strength cognitive function and vitality you can feel dramatically better than you do now you can be more active and engaged you can have mental clarity and good memory you can have the energy to do the things you enjoy and you can maintain your independence and quality of life well into advanced age but this requires that you take an active role in your health that you educate yourself about these issues that you advocate for appropriate testing and treatment and that you commit to doing what’s necessary to optimize your nutrition and vitamin status I hope this video has given you valuable information that you can use to dramatically improve your energy and wellness starting right now if you found this helpful please give this video a thumbs up because it helps the YouTube algorithm share this information with other people who desperately need it make sure you’re subscribed to my channel with notifications turned on so you don’t miss future videos where I’ll continue sharing evidence based health information that you can actually use to take control of your health and improve your quality of life drop a comment below and let me know what country you’re watching from and let me know if you’re currently experiencing low energy and fatigue or if you’ve ever been diagnosed with vitamin deficiencies I read every comment and I love hearing from viewers about your experiences and your questions if there are specific health topics you want me to cover in future videos let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to address them share this video with anyone you know over 60 who’s struggling with fatigue weakness cognitive decline or feeling like they’re aging faster than they should be because this information could genuinely change their life thank you so much for watching Take Care of Your health and I’ll see you in the next video
