Deficiency or anxiety?

[scottlayton35]

Hi ive been diagnosed with panic disorder but i still have doubts. Ive been suffering with heart palps, breathlessness and dizziness for the last year. Was just wondering if my blood results could be why i have these symptoms. Serum folate is 4.6ug/l(3.9-26.8), serum ferritin is 89ug/l(30-400) and serum b12 is 249ng/l(197-771). All just within the normal range but on the low side. My gp dismisses any connection between my symptoms and my results.

[4101]

Hi. It was suggested a couple of days ago that you tried sublingual B12. What happened when you tried the sublingual?

[scottlayton35 in reply to 4101]

I didnt but i am trying femoglobin. Ive been taking one a day for a week now and i feel better. Heart palps are all but gone.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

panic disorder sounds more like a label than a diagnosis.

this article talks about what panic disorder is

nimh.nih.gov/health/publica...

and it doesn't really fit with what you have described above in as much as panic attacks seem to be very short lived - a few minutes - whilst what you seem to be describing is more or less permanent.

The above is actually quite an incomplete picture in relation to B12 and iron - though your ferritin level does look reasonably good suggesting that iron probably isn't a factor.

Did your test results include a full blood count at all?

Your result is certainly in the grey area for B12 so B12 could be involved. Unfortunately serum B12 isn't a gold standard test and will miss 25% of people who are B12 deficient but catch 5% who aren't if taken as a single measure. Even more unfortunately the number of GPs who are aware of this is pretty small. There are similar problems with some of the thyroid tests.

What is in the supplement that you are taking?

[scottlayton35 in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks for replying. Im currently taking Feroglobin which is available from most supermarkets. It slow releases iron, folate and b12. I won't deny that i have had anxiety and panic but ive always felt it has been caused by my symptoms rather than the other way round. Ive always been a fit healthy guy and am not really a nervous, uptight, stressed out person nor do i have anything going on in the background to be anxious about such as debt or an affair. In the last few years ive started feeling really tired and my gym workouts have become very arduous to the point where ive quit for the time being until i get to the bottom of this health matter.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to scottlayton35]

hope you manage to resolve things soon

[spacey1]

My ferritin levels were fairly similar to yours, but as I'd got them up from below the range a few months before, the GP was convinced my breathlessness was nothing to do with iron. I started taking Spatone because I'd not been able to tolerate anything else, and I haven't been breathless in weeks!

Also, I get anxious when I'm due some B12 - it's quite noticeable, even if it sometimes takes me a day or two to put two and two together!

[scottlayton35 in reply to spacey1]

Thanks i'm almost convinced now. It makes too much sense.