Stages of B12 Deficiency - V Herbert

[Poppet11]

I'm paraphrasing here because Victor Herbert wrote in a lot of places of the stages of b12 deficiency and I'm trying to make it as clear as possible -

"Dementia, depression and poor attention span may be early symptoms.

Stage 1 is early deficiency with Holotc II lower than 60pg (sorry, no serum b12 levels given)

Stage 2 - serum b12 lower than 300pg and Holotc II 40pg

Stage 3 - (before anaemia - Victor's statement not mine) Potentially irreversible demylination of spinal cord, brain optic and peripheral nerves progressing to sub acute.

Stage 4 - Megaloblastic macrocytic anaemia."

Scary ain't it. Particularly since doctors seem to be looking for the anaemia before they will be convinced patients are ill.

... and of course taking into consideration the fact the anaemia can be masked.

Paraphrased from the Victor Herbert.com website.

[Secondchance]

Interesting website- thanks

[Poppet11]

Originally he focused mainly on dietary restricted illnesses (and so the vegans and veggies know more of him than us) and folate - but he did some very good work on b12 that in his later years became very relevant to us.

[Ruby-Dooby]

I FIND THIS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING, PARTICULARLY FOR OLDER FOLK WHO ARE DIAGNOSED WITH A DEMENTIA. THE INSTANCES WHEN YOU ARE SITTING OPPOSITE YOUR GP AND THEY ARE VERY OBVIOUSLY NOT REGARDING YOUR SYMPTOMS AS A PROBLEM. SO DISAPPOINTING. HAVING BECOME PART OF THIS WORLD OF B12 DEF AND PA, SPEAKING TO OTHERS WHO HAVE ALSO TAKEN YEARS TO BE DIAGNOSED AND PATRONISED WITH A PRESCRIPTION FOR ANTI DEPRESSANTS SEEM TO BE A TYPICAL PATHWAY.

[Poppet11]

Yes, Ruby, I absolutely agree - it is terrifying. I don't agree with everything that Herbert said but I think he (and his colleagues) had got this more or less, spot on. Yet we sit in front of doctors and no matter how sick we are, they tell us we are okay because our b12 levels have been returned to normal.

How others are suffering and have suffered, without anyone stepping in to remedy the situation, is enough to break your heart.

... and this information is out there. It's not hidden.