A rather depressing story about a dementia sufferer on Martyn Hooper's blog.
I wonder how many B12 deficient elderly people (and some not so elderly) are suffering dementia and are in care homes when the cause of their dementia might actually be treatable if caught in time.
My personal opinion is that residents should be screened regularly for B12 deficiency and that those not in care homes should have an annual screening for B12 deficiency.
I wholeheartedly agree!
Add to that all people presenting with ME/CFS, Gulf War Syndrome and other PTSDs, plus those with MS, Parkinsons and similar diseases.
Although improving, I am still struggling to keep my own life going, otherwise I would love to see if it was possible to organise trials in sufferers to see if improvements could be achieved for them. It potentially could improve the lives of so many!
In contrast here's a positive story from another blog showing that some haematologists know their stuff about B12 and PA.
Screening isn't really going to be the answer (person mentioned in the blog already has a diagnosis of B12 deficiency but the problem is that relatives are unable to get GP to authorise the treatment she really needs so ends up a vegetable 80+% of the time, which is really awful.
There needs to be improvement in GPs knowledge and awareness of what B12 deficiency actually is and particularly in the extent to which treatment needs to reflect the needs of individual patients ... which also means getting the setters of guidance to change so much about the way guidance is presented and what in fact the content is.
This is where it starts to become very worrying, it's said that GPS have been instructed to ignore b12 levels in diagnosis and not include them in routine blood tests. If you investigate conditions that are commonplace like Dementia and others like Autism b12is an underlying factor, if found early enough could halt the diseases in their tracks. But this isn't what the pharmaceutical companies want as they make millions every year from treating them. Could effective treatments and even cures be kept under wraps, the pharmaceutical companies paying for silence rather than lose a financial arm? If true, it would be shocking even cruel, playing with peoples lives even before they're even born. A conspiracy theory, hmmmmm.
Early onset Dementia or Bad Care?
PAS blog by Professor Wolffenbuttel.
An old but familiar story
Advanced dementia & B12 deficiency
