Could it be Pernicious Anaemia? please help..

[EBray-W]

For a year or so now I have been suffering with stomach problems which initially started as IBS or so I thought. On a daily basis I suffer with IBS symptoms, Nausea/wretching, burning in the stomach, bloating (basically an upset stomach in general), dizziness, fatigue and tingling sensations in my hands and face (not everyday) they randomly occur at different times of the day, some days are a lot better than others. After my doctor constantly telling me its acid reflux (to which i disagreed as no anti acid/sickness medication worked) she finally, after all this time, sent me for blood tests. They came back and I was diagnosed with folic acid deficiency anaemia. I am currently taking 5mg of Folic Acid everyday. After a week of taking this is still do not feel any better as of yet and have to go for some more blood tests in 3 weeks.

I just wondered if anyone with Pernicious Anaemia feels this way in terms of stomach symptoms? or is there a possibility that it could be Pernicious Anaemia or would they have diagnosed me with is straight away? I am really worried what could be wrong with my stomach especially when nothing seems to be working for it and I wondered if this could possibly be my answer. I am 23 years old.

Thank you in advance

E

[spacey1]

Hi

Do you know if your GP asked for a B12 test when your bloods were sent off? I don't think it's a standard test.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that you shouldn't start taking folic acid before the B12 supplements, if B12 is needed, because it can mask the symptoms.

I know a lot of people on here have had gut problems of some description - I've been diagnosed with IBS for years, and my low B12 has only come to light in the last year. I'm not sure if the IBS is a symptom caused by low B12, or if I can't absorb B12 because of my IBS! Having had a negative result for my IF antibody test, I'm not sure if my low B12 is caused by Pernicious Anaemia or not. You described dizziness and tingling, both of which I've had too, but I don't think either are a result of the IBS, and both symptoms have improved for me a lot since supplementing with B12.

There's a lot of pinned information about PA on this page - read through the symptoms and talk to your GP.

[clivealive Forum Support]

IBS is one of the symptoms of Vitamin B12 Deficiency and as spacey1 suggests your serum B12 level needs to be tested EBray-W

[pvanderaa]

The randomness of your symptoms could be related to where particular foods are in your gut.

From the time you eat or drink or take medication, there is a delayed reaction from 3 to 48 hours as the gut absorbs and liver filters and bile dumps the various nutrients (dare I say toxins) back into the gut.

A similar set of symptoms may follow the B12 jab for the same reason.

To sort these all out and try to find the cause, start a logbook and assess a severity score for each symptom and note when it appears. Also record your food, etc and when a symptom appears look back say 24 hours to see if there is a common food.

How does your stomach react to orange juice or diluted cider vinegar? If you get no heartburn, your stomach is probably too alkaline. I drink mine before going to bed as I feel it helps me sleep.

[pitney]

Hi EBray-W , I have all your symptoms plus more but it is the nausea and retching that really gets to me at times, non of the anti sickness or anti acids work for me either but I do find that one of the IBS treatments from a well known high street health food shop helps me with the nausea and retching , its called silicolgel .I am not a medically qualified person just someone trying to find solutions to my own symptoms so I suggest you ask your GP or pharmacist before you try anything new, all best wishes and good luck.

[wedgewood in reply to pitney]

Try taking probiotics . It helps the good bacteria in your gut . Bad bacteria flourishes when you have no or low stomach acid( that's what happens to PA patients I was told by a gastroenterologist )Best wishes . I tried SYMPROVE WHICH WAS MARVELLOUS BUT HORRIBLY EXPENSIVE . When it was so bad I thought ' damn the expense ' and took it for 3 months . It put me right although I was very sceptical ! I now treat myself with homemade probiotics -namely sauerkraut made with red or white organic cabbage ( Google for recipe ) Putting some chopped onion with it makes it tastier ! Best wishes .

[pitney in reply to wedgewood]

Many Thanks wedgewood I did give the probiotics a try last year but unfortunately they didn't do anything for me except give me constant diarrhea, but i'm always willing to try things ( within reason) that have helped others . Best wishes.

[wedgewood]

Try probiotics I had the pain and nausea like you A gastroenterologist told me that PA patients have low or no stomach acid , resulting in upset gut flora . No treatment is given for this because no pharmaceutical company is interested . They need to patent a medicine to be able to make big profits . The solution for me was probiotics . I found a very good one but it was expensive , called Symprove . It did the trick , although I was very sceptical at the time ! I now continue with homemade ones -namely sauerkraut -red or white organic cabbage ( tasty 😋 with chopped onion ) Google for a recipe . Hope that this helps Best wishes .

[EBray-W]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it 😊 Firstly, I am not sure if I have had my B12 tested, I am going for more blood tests in the next couple of weeks so maybe it will be tested then?-I do have a doctors appointment next week to discuss my diagnosis/ /symptoms so I will definitely ask about it then.

My mum has Anaemia (low iron) and she was prescribed iron tablets and then went back for blood tests a month later to then be prescribed vitamin D, so she started taking Iron before the vitamin D.

I have kept food diaries several times recently to see if certain foods upset my stomach- which they do, but I don't always get symptoms or I'll get sickness and other symptoms to foods that haven't bothered me before- which makes it random.

It is definitely the nausea and retching that bothers me the most and I find it difficult to cope with alongside the dizziness and fatigue constantly 😞

I forgot to mention the excessive urination, palpitations and weight loss are also my symptoms too- I don't know if these are related?

Could I ask, do all of you have PA? and do you think my symptoms sound possibly like I have this? I know you're not doctors, I'm just hoping to find an answer.

Thank you all, again