Martyn Hooper's blog Psychiatric Issues

[Sleepybunny]

Blog post about psychiatric issues and B12 deficiency

martynhooper.com/2017/01/22...

[Polaris]

Thank you for posting this SB - yet more evidence of the complexity of B12.....

Martyn's honest description of what can happen psychologically when the neurological system becomes damaged in late stage PA/B12 def. is very brave and not something I, personally, would risk admitting to my own GP after our family's horrendous battle in trying to prove our relative's behaviour was down to severe, long standing and under treated B12 deficiency.

I absolutely agree with him that all psychiatric patients should be tested for B12 def. I believe this is already advised for dementia patients but seriously doubt whether this is routinely done and, with the present unreliable tests and obstacles, it would probably still be difficult to get adequate treatment.

As 'Martyn points out, GPs (or psychiatrists) rarely understand the subtle neuro/psychiatric effects of PA/B12. Many will probably still continue to only treat the psychiatric symptoms with antipsychotics, as long as the system continues to provide higher monetary gain for diagnosing mental illness. This makes it much more difficult for anyone to be honest about say, auditory symptoms, hallucinations, depressive or aggressive feelings, especially if, like me, you're a small, hypothyroid old woman self treating with NDT !