B12 diy Doctoring

The NHS have a whole load of useful guides on such matters:

Anaemia detected at the GP's blood test.

so they do

Fatigue. Mine was diagnosed in a blood test and I had quarterly injections as the surgery said tablets didn't work. Then the pandemic arrived and I was switched to tablets as they didn't want people visiting the surgery, still don't from all accounts.

I hope you still have your blood tested?

One cause of low B12 is the lack of the enzyme "intrinsic factor" that assists in the absorption of B12 through the small intestine.

Your tablets may of course have intrinsic factor added?

I think it's more likely that the surgery just wanted to reduce the number of patient visits. I do have six-monthly blood tests.

My symptons were fatigue (I thought I was just getting old!) and mouth problems - indicating anaemia, lack of iron. Tests showed lack of intrinsic factor so absorption of B12 in the gut not possible, so B12 injections needed. I even had them during lockdown etc. I have them every 2 months. It was every 3 months, but I suffered fatigue at the end of each 3 month period.

I understand that an alternative to B12 injections is using sub-lingual (under-tongue) high dose (1000ug) B12 tablets. These are left in the mouth until they completely dissolve. There is some (but not much) absorption through the lining of the mouth.

In extreme cases of B12 deficiency you can get irreversible nerve damage which could cripple you when your body stores of B12 get so low that the body steals B12 from the sheaths of the nerves in order to make red blood cells.

We had one chap at St Bartholomews sent in by his GP because he was struggling to walk without sticks. His Haemoglobin level was about 5 grammes/decilitre, with a Red cell MCV of well over 100. Quite the worst case they had ever seen yet he still managed to walk (struggle) up a flight of stairs to the Haematology lab on the 1st floor. This is classic pernicious anaemia, whereas iron-deficient anaemia would give rise to far more obvious symptoms of tiredness long before the Hb got that low (if it ever would, I never saw a case of iron deficiency anaemia with an Hb that low in my 7 years as a Lab Technician).

B12 is absorbed from red meat but it needs an assistant called intrinsic factor, secreted by the stomach lining in order to be absorbed.

One of the family of auto immune diseases attacks the cells that produce this factor so without it the body slowly loses its store of B12, in order to make red blood cells, and in extreme cases the B12 in the nerve sheaths is sacrificed to make red cells instead. The resultant nerve damage is permanent.

Vegans need to take B12 supplements.

Vegans need to get over themselves.

Tim

This should not really be a "symptom driven exercise".

B12 is a standard tick box on a blood test form.

If you visit a new doctor for the first time, he should test for this. Just the fact you're old, is a reason to test for it.

It's like using a dipstick and checking for engine oil, before going on a long trip. It's the equivalent of that.

B12 is "electrical wiring". A deficiency can affect anything that communicates electrically in the body.

An irregular pulse, could have B12 as a complicating factor. But life itself, is hardly ever this simple (my first doctor was a bit of a twit, and thought the B12 was my whole problem, which is not even remotely close).

Now, this is the deal. From a web page...

"The longer the condition goes untreated, the higher the chance of permanent damage."

The liver stores B12. The tau (time constant) is one month. It would probably take about three months, before the liver would have none of it left. Your body really does try to conserve it (by recycling). It's because of the tau, that injections only need to be once a month, to keep you "fully stocked" :-)

Paul

thanks just what I wanted to know.....

I had a short period of spastic gate.....very frightening

I gave my doctor all my symptoms and he didn't diagnose a B12 deficiency so I am now self medicating

spastic gate brain fog numbness in hands fatigue

heart palpatations

funny how one of my doctors used to say there is no magic pill....well there is...

And its prevalent amongst Vegans and Remoaners.

and what were the symptoms ? ..

Writing crap on the Usenet

It was very noticeable that T i m started his diet on a Veganuary with seemingly normal postings, but by the end of March he had gone into the ‘rant and rave’ mode that he kept up until he disappeared from the group - which ties in with the period of three months mentioned earlier in the thread to exhaust bodily stores of B12. I believe someone on the group mentioned the possibility at the time, which made T i m kick off on another rant.