My 23 year old daughter, now on quarterly B12 injections, has just phoned regarding her condition. Following a suggestion by a former nurse, she is now wondering whether her symptoms, which are too numerous to disclose here, may also have a Thyroid connection. Her mum has been diabetic for over 40 years and had a thyroidectomy before C was born. Cleo tells me there is a connection between child with PA and a diabetic mother: I don't know about this, accept they are both autoimmune disorders. I have suggested she gets a blood test for thyroid which she also wants and will do ASAP. I was wondering does anyne know of a connection? Is there any substance in her concerns re. PA and Thyroid?
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concerneddad
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Definitely- both autoimmune and quite a lot of people on here have both. The other possibility is that 3 monthly injections are inadequate for her- many on here find that, as did pernicious anaemic society research. I suggest reading "could it be B12" by Sally Pacholok
AS far as I am aware there is a causal link between PA and Thyroid ie one doesn't cause the other - just a high correlation on multiple auto-immune problems. It may be down to genetic factors but I'm not sure what the state of research currently is on identify the specific genes.
There is a considerable overlap between symptoms of PA and those of both thyroid and diabetes. The link between diabetic mother and PA duaghter may actually be that the mother had PA that wasn't identified because symptoms were put down to diabetes.
It may just be that injections every 12 weeks aren't enough. They aren't for most people. If she has neuro symptoms then loading doses should have been every other day until no further improvement. Did she receive that ?
Like others here, I agree that your daughter probably needs more B12 as PA should have been treated "until there is no further improvement". It would also be as well to have a thyroid test, as symptoms often do overlap.
Autoimmune diseases are interlinked and we have both in our family. This abridged version of Dr. Marc Ryan's post on Facebook explains things really well..
"Anyone who has lived with Hashimoto's knows that this is so much more than a thyroid problem. The biggest axis of trouble is often found in the thyroid-brain-gut connection. And one common problem that causes this is leaky gut or intestinal permeability. Many researchers believe that this is ground zero for autoimmune disease. It is the place that autoimmune disease is born and the place that makes it get worse and worse. And when things get worse in the gut, problems in the thyroid and brain often follow.
The small intestines are the place where leaky gut often happens. And the walls of the small intestines are lined with tiny little hair like protrusions called microvilli. On a regular microscope they kind of look like a tiny, fuzzy paint brush. This fuzzy appearance is why they came up with the term "brush border" to describe them.
This is the place where absorption happens. And many people with Hashimoto's suffer from deficiencies of important vitamins and nutrients (like vitamin D, vitamin B12 and B6, zinc, selenium, magnesium, iron, etc.). One of the reasons for this is the breakdown of these brush borders. Foods high in lectins or other inflammatory substances (like gluten, and other grains, beans and nightshades) can actually cause these brush borders to get crushed and destroyed.
The microvilli (little hairs) that make up the brush border have enzymes for this final part of digestion anchored into their membrane as membrane proteins. These enzymes are found near to the transporters that will then allow absorption of digested nutrients.
Brush border enzymes amylase, cellulase and invertase can be effective in digesting carbohydrates, proteins, and fats without causing irritation and digestion of the intestinal walls. One problem with using large quantities of pancreatic enzymes (which are commonly found in digestive enzyme formulas) is that they may actually irritate and digest the intestinal walls. The theory about the reason for this is that they help break down proteins and your intestinal walls are made of proteins. If you have leaky gut, which many of us do, these proteins are exposed. And these digestive enzymes don't know which proteins to digest and which ones to not digest. They break down all of them."
My mother was diagnosed with PA and hypothyroidism at the same time. I have had Hadhimotos for 27 yrs and recently found out I have PA. So many symptoms overlap for both diseases.
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