i have lost my notes since adding a work email account to my iPhone 5s.

I have read a heap of other forums which suggest that the notes are synched with yahoo account etc... i have a hotmail account, but no where in that can i find a notes folder. also people have suggested that maybe it was in iCloud, i also did not have iCloud set up.. basically my notes were there, then i added my work account to my iPhone and then went in to my notes to check them and they were gone.

In settings under notes it says default account: the only option i was given was the work account. someone pleaaaase help before i go nuts!