Peripheral neuropathy linked to pernicious anaemia

[Catherinevdt]

Hello, newbie here today, have had this for over a year now, but it only stopped me driving 9months ago when the numbness and pain / stabbing in my feet meant I couldn't feel the pedals to control the car. May this year the pins and needles spread to my hands but as I can still cross my fingers I am that this is going to improve... After being diagnosed first with water retention and given pee pills, then varicose veins and the tests and treatment for that was finally when I went back to my vein consultant to complain it was getting worse and spreading, did he send me back to a generic one, who recognised the problem as neuralgic. So I take a b12 vitamin each day, along with folic acid, and once a week a b12 injection. I am just back driving again, can now walk without crutches but not up and down steps unless slowly and sideways holding on. For the pain I don't know whether the tramadol I was given worked psychologically - it certainly didn't help my appetite which had reduced, nor being with it all the time. I don't know whether anyone else has experienced this but I was told the reason I got the b12 deficiency in the first place that let to the anaemia that caused the neauropathy, was because I had been in a severe diet for 4 years and cut out too much protein. I did have 65 kilos to lose, which I am happy to say has gone, but at what price!

[Judmilla]

I did have a B12 deficiency in recent years, but it wasn't the cause of my neuropathy as I had that for 30 years, long before the deficiency. My deficiency was caused by stomach surgery necessitated by esophageal cancer eleven years ago. You need the upper part of the stomach in order to absorb B12, and most of the upper part of my stomach is gone. I was on the shots for a year, but my doctor would only order them once a month, and would not administer them himself so my husband had to do it. In the U.S., a B12 deficiency is defined as a level less than 200, while the rest of the world defines it as under 500 or even 550. Since mine was over 200, Medicare would not pay for the shots. Last year, since my husband was really uncomfortable giving me the shots, I tried a very high dose of B12 in the sublingual tablet form, and that has worked out quite well. A 2500mg tablet under my tongue, once a day for a year brought my level up to over 2000. I tried cutting back to once every other day, but the level dropped to 1000, so I went back to every day. It didn't help my neuropathy, but several other problems cleared up.

[pricklyfeet]

omg that scares me. I had no idea the pins and needles in my feet could gat so bad. I'm not sure why I have it. I do kno I have bulges in my lower spine and sciatica. I thought that was the cause