Hello everyone
I’m new to all this and on my first block of b12 injections and due to have my bloods retested beginning of April and been told folate was okay but not sure if that to do with me being under active thyroid too.
So just wanted so advice really what to expect etc
Hi Sueirving
Anyone at any age, can become B12 deficient. However, certain people are at an elevated risk. They include the following:
Vegetarians, vegans and people eating macrobiotic diets.
People aged sixty and over
People who’ve undergone any gastric and/or intestinal surgery, including bariatric surgery for weight loss purposes (Gastric bypass).
People who regularly use proton-pump- inhibitors. H2 blockers, antacids, Metformin, and related diabetes drugs, or other medications that can interfere with B12 absorption.
People who undergo surgeries or dental procedures involving nitrous oxide, or who use the drug recreationally.
People with a history of eating disorders (anorexia or bulimia).
People with a history of alcoholism.
People with a family history of pernicious anaemia.
People diagnosed with anaemia (including iron deficiency anaemia, sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia).
People with Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gluten enteropathy (celiac disease), or any other disease that cause malabsorption of nutrients.
People with autoimmune disorders (especially thyroid disorders such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease) Type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, lupus, Addison’s disease, ulcerative colitis, infertility, acquired agammaglobulinemia, or a family history of these disorders.
Women with a history of infertility or multiple miscarriages.
Apart from your thyroid problems do you "see yourself" in any of the above people that may have caused your B12 deficiency?
Symptoms of B12 deficiency tend to develop slowly and may not be recognised immediately. As the condition worsens, common symptoms include:
Weakness and fatigue
Light-headedness and dizziness
Palpitations and rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath
A sore tongue that has a red, beefy appearance
Nausea or poor appetite
Weight loss
Diarrhoea
Yellowish tinge to the skin and eyes
If low levels of B12 remain for a long time, the condition also can lead to irreversible damage to nerve cells, which can cause the following symptoms:
Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
Difficulty walking
Muscle weakness
Irritability
Memory loss
Dementia
Depression
Psychosis
Do you have any of the above symptoms?
It is not uncommon for some symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 starts repairing the damage done to your nervous system and your brain starts getting multiple messages from part of the body it had "forgotten about" or lost contact with.
I sometimes liken it to a badly tuned radio on which you have turned the volume up high trying to catch the programme you want when all of a sudden the signal comes in loud and clear and the blast nearly deafens you.
A lot will depend on the severity and longevity of your B12 deficiency as to how long before there is no further improvement or recovery.
Some symptoms will "disappear" quite quickly whereas others may take months or even years. There is no set timescale as we are all different.
I am not a medically trained person but I've had P.A. (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 45 years.
I wish you well
.
Had numbness and tingling but was put down to bad back as had numerous MRIs done and feeling weak and tired put down to thyroid and had low points but put down to lost of my mum. Memory had been forgetting to order my prescriptions and it was because been getting bad headaches that my hospital doctor asked gps to redo my bloods full blood count and thyroid function and b12 etc
Sueirving, unlike thyroid meds there isn't any risk of overdosing with B12 which means that monitoring serum b12 levels after you have started loading shots isn't necessary.
Ideally frequency of treatment should be based on symptoms, though that can be quite tricky if you also have a thyroid condition and generally isn't something that GPs (or many specialists) are actually aware of - so if your levels come back high in April and you are told you don't need further B12 or that you don't need further injections do come back to this forum for support.
There are several ways in which thyroid problems could lead to absorption problems - these generallty affect iron first. If your B12 levels were the first to show problems then that suggests that you actually have PA as the underlying cause of your absorption problems.
It would be useful to know what your folate levels were - as they can become temporarily depleted when your body starts getting enough B12 - the best source of folate is food - but if your diet is already rich in folate rich foods you might want to look at a suppermarket supplement.
Some hypothyroid patients report that their thyroid levels need adjusting after starting on B12 so no harm in reviewing thyroid function. The test may also be about doing IFAB - the test currently used in the UK to diagnose PA - unfortunately it isn't a very sensitive test - which means that it misses patients who do have PA 40-60% of the time depending on the exact assay method. Its a good test for showing that you do have PA (low probability of a false positive) but is a long way from being able to rule out PA as the cause of a B12 deficiency.
Bittersweet Bonds - Pernicious Anemia and the Doctor-Patient Dance
How does it feel to have too much B12?
