B12 deficiency

[Leanneta]

Hi everyone I apologise if this is a long post. I started feeling unwell at the end of Jan this year. Dizziness vertigo feeling like on boat. I had a bit of a stuffy nose and went to doctors they said blood pressure was dropping on standing and said this was poss a vesticular balance infection. I was given antibiotics and still got no better. Fast forward to May I was still feeling unwell very tired shaking in hands sometimes cracks around corner of mouth dizziness which worse in some shops. I went to docs and mentioned b12 deficiency due to strong family history and got bloods done. I was never made aware that this result came back at 150 and ferritin 15. In June I got shingles which made me feel worse. I have moved to new doctors and they just done a b12 test this came back at 236 and ferritin 44 I'm puzzled as still feeling the same. I got a urine test done at same time as blood and today got a call that have infection. My question is coukd the shingles still be affecting results and this new water infection. I just seem to be picking everything up all time.

Thanks

[Hidden]

Hi Leanneta ,

I am sorry to read you are not doing well. Its more the other way round I think, as in because you are bordering anaemia your body is not able to fight infections and viruses say. Perhaps ask to have further investigations as per new BSCH guidelines concerning B12 and folate def‏, see:

bcshguidelines.com/document...

"The writing group recommends adoption of reporting for cobalamin assay results in pmol/L (Grade 2C)  A serum cobalamin cut-off level of either 148 pmol/L (200 ng/L) or one derived from a local reference range should be used as evidence of cobalamin deficiency in the presence of a strong clinical suspicion (Grade 2B)  The report providing the result of a serum cobalamin assay should inlcude the following o The interpretation of the result should be considered in relation to the clinical circumstances o Falsely low serum cobalamin levels may be seen in the presence of folate deficiency or technical issues o Neurological symptoms due to cobalamin deficiency may occur in the presence of a normal MCV (Grade 1B)  Plasma tHcy and/or plasma MMA, depending on availability, may be considered as supplementary tests to determine biochemical cobalamin deficiency in the presence of clinical suspicion of deficiency but an indeterminate serum cobalamin level (Grade 2B) o Although plasma tHcy is a sensitive marker of cobalamin deficiency, plasma MMA is more specific o Both assays have to be interpreted in relation to renal function  Holotranscobalamin is suggested as a suitable assay for assessment of cobalamin status in a routine diagnostic laboratory in the future (Grade 1B) "

An Active B12 test (Holotranscobalamin) is not that expensive and may be worth doing, it will show if you are deficient of B12 at tissue level (serum B12 test shows only what is in your serum, not what is actually converted to the B12 form your body needs), if your active B12 test is marginal then it is useful to have MMA tested.

For info on Active B12 see:

active-b12.com/What-Is-Acti...

If you end up on antibiotics then you will have to wait some time before having any blood tests done as the antibiotic will affect results.

I hop this helps you,

Kind regards,

Marre.

[Leanneta in reply to Hidden]

Thanks will the fact that I have had shingles a few weeks ago and the infection in body have affected these results. I'm a bit puzzled as to how ferritin 44 as in the last 5 years it's never been above 22

Thanks

[Leanneta in reply to Hidden]

Thanks will the fact that I have had shingles a few weeks ago and the infection in body have affected these results. I'm a bit puzzled as to how ferritin 44 as in the last 5 years it's never been above 22

Thanks

[Hidden]

I can not say I know of a reason why your ferritin has gone up, can not imagine its because of the shingles and infections, but I do not know for sure! Marre.

[rodella]

Have your vitamin d tested 50% of us nation is deficiant. Symptoms low energy level, brain fog, irregular sleep patterns emotional outburst and depression.