Hi, my dad’s B12 test results came bery high.
Basically his B12 level is 2000 when the normal range is 200-900.
Is it normal? Should we worry about it? Any other tests that we need to check.
With his current chemo Pemetrexed , the doctor told to take B12 shots 7 days before the chemo with folic acid and he did it during last chemo. His another cycle is coming in one week and I guess we should stop B12 but very confused now since there are many discussion on that. Thanks
This is probably a good question to call his doctor about. Honestly, I can’t remember why B12 is given to patients receiving it. I do know that not taking it causes some organ damage.
Ask the doctor or his nurse if it’s high because of the shot or because the pametrexed blocks the body’s ability to absorb B12. I’d love to hear their answer!
Did you hear back from the doctor?
Vitamin B12 is water soluble and leaves the body through urine, so even at high doses it’s rarely harmful and rarely builds up inside because it’s excreted, so a high vitamin B12 level is not common and can indicate something else going on inside. Does your dad have a tumor in his liver or liver lesion? While high B12 levels are not common, when they are seen it can involve liver disease, diabetes or myeloproliferative disorders. I would find out if your dad has cancer involvement to his liver. If he does, I wonder if this could be causing the high B12 levels. If he doesn’t, I would still look into liver disease, diabetes, or a myeloproliferative disorder and rule those out of it doesn’t look like it’s caused from cancer in the liver. I would also check into Functional B12 deficiency where the body doesn’t process B12 correctly and it builds up. But either way, I would not ignore this and would get him to a specialist, hematologist doctor?, who can look into it.
Thank you. He has lungs cancer, nothing in the liver and we checked recently and diabetis test was good too. How can functional B12 deficiency be tested? Thanks
That’s great no cancer in the liver! But has he had liver function tests run to see if there isn’t something else going on with his liver - liver disease? Most of these tests are blood tests - same with functional B12 deficiency. He does need the correct specialist though. I am not entirely certain which exact specialists but I feel a Hematologist would be a very good place to start. The hematologist can run his blood work and start investigating into the high b12. But as I said, I wouldn’t just let it go and would push for investigation into it until they have an answer. At the very least, you want to get all the possible causes ruled out.
Time for some SBRT - and for keeping it real
Shocked
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