Tinnitus

[Wendyr2010]

I eventually got my loading doses after getting my doctors to acknowledge that I was B12 deficient , the many symptoms I had improved massively apart from sore tounge and awful tinnitus,I am due my 3 month maintenance dose next week and the tinnitus is worse than ever.

Does anyone have any experience of B12 and tinnitus and does it eventually improve ?

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Wendyr2010

It is also important that your Folate level is monitored as this is essential to process the B12.

There is a complex interaction between folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron. A deficiency of one may be "masked" by excess of another so the three must always be in balance.

Symptoms of a folate deficiency can include:

symptoms related to anaemia

reduced sense of taste

diarrhoea

numbness and tingling in the feet and hands

muscle weakness

depression

Replacing B12 will lead to a huge increase in the production of blood cells and platelets (which occurs in the bone marrow) and can lead to rapid depletion of folate and iron stores; this can then limit the expected recovery of Haemoglobin. Both iron and folate may be needed.

Personally I have had tinnitus for many years and I find it "comes and goes" without any particular "trigger",

It is not uncommon for some symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 you are having 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 Pernicious Anaemia (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 46 years.

I wish you well.

[Wendyr2010 in reply to clivealive]

Hi thank you for your response,I have never had tinnitus until I had all the other symptoms of B12 definicy.

My folate level was 6.87 ug/L (>5.38) not sure if this is an acceptable level

[clivealive Forum Support in reply to Wendyr2010]

Your Folate level is barely off the bottom of the range.

You can source folate naturally by eating plenty of leafy green vegetables, sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, peas, beans etc. Many breakfast cereals are now being fortified with folic acid. Look down the side of the packets.

Folic acid can also be bought cheaply across the counter at pharmacies and supermarkets. One Folic Acid 400μg per day would be a good "maintenance" level.

[Wendyr2010 in reply to clivealive]

Many thanks Clive,I eat plenty of them so I think I will start supplements and also for vitamin D as that is bottom of range.