How do I 'read' my results & adjust my diet & life?

Hello again!

So I have my results and the first of my second set of loading doses this afternoon as I finished the first set 31 August but now having constant headache, dizziness, wobbly legs, confusion blah blah and all that jazz. I'm having my first coffee of the day as been having too much coffee and had lots of dry mouth so thought I'd cut that out but needed one

I'm wondering what else I should be / could be doing diet-wise. I started cycling again over the summer but with the tiredness not done it lately. Thought the tiredness was down to the Champix I've taken for the last few weeks as also stopped smoking which is cool. It takes me half an hour to make my salad for lunch every day and half the week I eat my home-made chilli as I love hot chillis and maybe the beef is my craving for B12 I gave up wheat years ago although do eat bits at the moment whilst I'm living where I am, and I gave up dairy years ago and eggs more recently as they just gave me massive heartburn.

I'm a little worried about going out cycling as someone mentioned too much exercise can make you lose the B12(?!) and I'm cutting out alchohol - I usually have cider once or twice a week and a bottle of pinot noir if I can afford it. But I've got stuff to do and I don't think the alcohol helps

Any links/tips/etc. would help focus my research, I've got the jabs coming but know it's not just that alone I need to be 'normal' again! thanks in advance!

Serum vitamin B12 (XE2pf) ~ 155 ng/L [180 - 914] - Below low reference limit

Plasma folate level (X76tC) ~ 5 ng/mL [4 - 20]

Intrinsic factor antibody level (XaDsn) ~ 2 u/mL [0 - 24]

Parietal cell autoantibody level (XE2pi) ~ Negative

Anti-liver-kidney microsomal antibody level (43GW) ~ Negative

Anti-smooth muscle autoantibody level (XE2ph) ~ Negative

[fbirder]

No, exercising doesn't make you lose B12. But people with a deficiency will find it difficult to exercise and it can take quite a while to build your fitness up again - so remember to take it easy.

As for diet, nothing special is required. Just eat a well balanced diet - lots of fruit and veg, grains and pulses, meat and oily fish.

[Hidden in reply to fbirder]

Awesome, glad to hear that! Does alcohol? Is that why I lost it so quick this time?

Cycled to the doc today but took it easy, decided 30 min wobbly walk would be harder than 10 mins focused cycling, bike kept me straight...ish lol

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

I found cycling a lot easier than walking when my B12 was low.

The effect of alcohol seems to vary from person to person - I find that it can leave me feeling wiped out so tend to avoid it - or dose up on B12 before having some.

If you are having problems with digesting food then possible that what may look like high stomach acidity is actually low stomach acidity and taking a little lime-juice in water may help - cider vinegar is something that some people also use.

[Hidden in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks Gambit62 - yes, I don't really have a problem with the cycling as it's just sitting down and now I know how to use gears properly it felt a lot easier than walking down the stairs earlier!

I'm just amazed at the amount of dots I'm connecting with all the things I read up on and wondering which ones are connected and which ones aren't.

I've always had heartburn issues, I've started peppermint tea again as I need to get off the coffee again I guess, always end up with cold half cups of peppermint tea though lol.

I did hear someone before saying about the reverse stomach acidity and am reading now it might have links to the B12 stuff. Got some cider vinegar before somewhere - also warm water with lemon is supposed to be good in the morning, I love lime but that's like a volcano in terms of heartburn

My main goal is to not be the zombie I've been for the last year, so I'm thankful I've found out it's B12 deficiency and not just being a lazy person cos never thought I was, now just worried about long-term effects of it only just being found out.

Still, just had first of my second lot of loading doses so hopefully headache will ease up, still there at the moment and no next jab till 3rd Oct due to lack of appointments

[Av42]

Hi not one of the experts or long timers on here so can only say what I've been doing over the last few months . Bananas , at least one a day , oranges and or juice , yoghurt before bed and nuts and raisins. Can't stand any of these foods but just aim for the vitamins. Am on prescription folic acid and have a berocca tablet which is a multi vitamin . Also a b12 spray which I've now started having while I wait the next three weeks for three monthly jab. Some people on here drink coconut water as high in potassium but cannot force myself yet .

[Hidden in reply to Av42]

"Can't stand any of these foods" <~ LOL! Well I'm 17.5 stone, I like lots of foods But I do actually have not that bad a diet, I've always had weight issues and only once lost lots when I followed the fake Dr Dr Gillian KcKeith's You Are What You Eat and gave up carbs, but that's very hard to maintain IMO.

I don't do dairy - last time I had some milk a couple of days ago I paid for it the next day Love yoghurt but similar heartburn but apart from that coconut water's pretty nice but expensive, bananas rock, oranges and fruit are good, just gotta watch the sugar. Nuts and raisins rock too, I imagine a lot of my weight issue is to do with my love for monkey nuts, a whole day's calorie count in one pack there!

Hope you figure out a diet that works for you and your B12 issues, would be cool to build some kind of auto-recipe thing where you plug in your issues, your fave type of foods and it spits out a perfect diet plan. Even better if it 3d printed it but we're not there quite yet!

[margareta12321 in reply to Hidden]

I make a blended concoction using coconut water raw broccoli,carrots and lots of red berries and pineapple.It seems to help me but don't know why.

[Hidden in reply to margareta12321]

The greens were always the ones I couldn't stomach well when I had a juicer. Pineapple for sure, sweet is good I swayed towards using green apples for the sugar.

Going to have to sort my diet out again I see!

[Av42]

Weight Isn't a problem for me but unfortunately I used to get majority of my calories from chocolate so my problems I believe are mostly self inflicted. Hopefully you'll discover what works for you and won't have to eat anything that you dislike in the desire to get what you need.

[Hidden in reply to Av42]

I don't think there's much food I dislike - I used to joke that I overdosed on McDonalds thickshakes when I was younger but perhaps I was just craving the B12, maybe that's what the chocolate was for you. I definitely see signs of B12 symptoms with my mother's health issues throughout her life as well as mine, I'm sure my poor eating when I was younger didn't help, I've not been too bad of late though, I've always preferred preparing my own food than microwave meals.

Saw you mentioned porridge in one of your posts - I'm not a huge fan but managed to get back regularly eating that in the morning cos it's good energy that lasts a long time. I get Flahavan's cos it's good value and doesn't have any added stuff in it, then I cheat and add honey cos let's face it porridge is pretty grim!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

...I make the porridge with water btw, don't do milk any more. Just tried a yoghurt half hour ago cos you mentioned it and I thought I'd try one again and now I'm feeling the pain

[margareta12321 in reply to Hidden]

Maybe its the Scot in me but I love the stuff.Original rough oats made with water and a sliced banana.Yum!

[Hidden in reply to margareta12321]

Yeah well, gets cold up North, probably tastes at least twice as nice lol

[Av42]

Only buy the one with golden syrup 😊

[Hidden in reply to Av42]

I just had a shock when I saw the ingredient list as my dad has the oatsosimple and it's got 10x the sugar and salt in, so sticking with the Flahavan's + honey. The food industry 'adding value' to extract more money off you with their 'convenience' and pretty packaging is 99% of the NHSs issues!

[Av42]

If I brought that one would probably add ten times the sugar ha ha . Good luck with finding what works for you .