B12 advice

[Janm51]

Hello I am a member of the Thyroid UK site and another member recommended that I sought advice on recent B12 result, which was 274. Many thanks.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

notice that there was a difference in two recent results from your looking through TUK posts - this may be different assay method so would be useful to double check that both the units and the ranges were the same - though the difference between 319 and 274 could easily be a just a variation within the accuracy of the tests.

Would be useful to know exactly what symptoms you have - as it is symptoms rather than test scores that count -

MMA and homocysteine can help to clarify - which I covered in a response to a post on TUK about 11 days ago so it might be worth asking for those if not done already - there was also a post in the last two days about getting them done privately at St Thomas's in London that might be of use if you can't get GP to take any notice.

274 may or may not be deficient - and sorry for repeating this but it is symptoms rather than the scores that count. many people will be perfectly fine at 274 - and others can be significantly deficient.

symptoms check list can be found here

pernicious-anaemia-society....

and there are numerous bits in the pinned posts that you can use to try and educate your GP.

I am assuming that you haven't started supplementing - as having done so will make interpreting any further test rather difficult - though less of an issue with testing IFA (though you would need to stop for a short while - details in the pinned post 'Please read this...') the test is prone to false negatives which makes it a difficult one to use. PA is one possible and the most common absorption problem though there are others, so getting a negative doesn't rule out PA but it also doesn't rule out another problem.

[Janm51 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you for your response. From a symptom perspective I can relate to quite a few of those mentioned in the attachment. The two most prevalent for me are an (often) overwhelming tiredness where I can sleep around the clock (recently slept for 20 hours out of 24) and feel very strange and detached from everything around me whilst awake - plus I never, ever wake up feeling refreshed and I also suffer from depression which never goes away no matter how much I am medicated. I also suffer from bloating and very thin nails and hair and breathlessness (I use an inhaler).

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Janm51]

Have you tried talking to your GP?

- and have a look through the pinned posts for materials that might help you educate your GP -

healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...

frankhollis.com/temp/Summar...

ask for MMA and homocysteine tests to clarify what may be happening at cell level

[MariLiz in reply to Janm51]

Definitely sounds like low B12 to me! My earliest symptoms were breathlessness, and terrible tiredness.My nails are very ridged and break easily, my balance isn't good, and I bump into the walls if I go to the bathroom at night. All this has improved enormously since I began getting the injections. Low B12 often accompanies thyroid problems.

[Janm51 in reply to MariLiz]

Thank you MariLiz - I sometimes think I am going mad so it is good to hear I'm not . Glad to hear you are feeling a lot better. I have just started taking 5000mg lozenges plus B complex (as suggested by member of thyroid site) - do you think that sounds sufficient?

[MariLiz in reply to Janm51]

Are these dissolved under the tongue? So you bypass the digestive system? If so they sound fine.

[Janm51 in reply to MariLiz]

Yes they are x

[Janm51]

Thank you