Negative Intrinsic Factor & Parietal Cells

[Eoperez]

Sorry for yet another post! Just found out that the parietal cells blood test that I was waiting for and thought would get me the treatment and recognition from the GP I needed has also come back negative.

As both now negative does this mean I do not have pernicious anaemia?

I'll probably have a phone consultation with GP on Monday but don't know where to go from here.

My b12 was 172 on 11 October. Found out last week that 10 years ago it was 140 odd (not sure if relevant or not). Ferritin and folate just in range. Thyroid well treated with 175mcg Levothyroxine.

Thanks in advance.

[fbirder]

This is what the NICE guidelines say...

If anti-parietal cell antibody is not present it is unlikely that the person has pernicious anaemia

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Eoperez, as fbirder says - the negative of GPCA does make it unlikely that the cause of your deficiency is PA - but there are a lot of other B12 absorption problems that can lead to B12 deficiency and very few of them are actually treatable.

If your thyroid problem is auto-immune then it may be worth sharing this article with your GP

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Eoperez in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks both.

Guess my battle is now going to be trying to find out why B12 is low. Somebody mentioned coeliac disease & h pylori in another post so may be worth asking GP about them also just feel like I'm in a never ending battle with doctors at the mo!

[JMN2017]

Eoperez

There are some medications that can affect absorption so may be worth checking any medications you are taking to see if there is an increased chance of meds being the cause.

In particular, Metformin, PPIs - such as Omeperazole/Lansoperazol/Ranitidine/Cimetidine, are commonly prescribed meds which can affect absorption. I believe HRT/ Pill can affect this too. There are too many to mention here but if you put 'med' and 'B12' into Google, you should get a list of links to check through. Do this with each of your medication.

Hope this helps

J

[Eoperez in reply to JMN2017]

Thanks. The only medication I'm on now is Levothyroxine. I did take Metformin for a few years (for PCOS) but stopped when i fell pregnant in 2015.

[Marz in reply to Eoperez]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

The above is one of many research papers discussing Low B12 - scroll down for the information regarding Metformin and B12 - for your GP

There are many many more papers to be found ....