Hi I’m 53 a single mum of a 16 yr old and also a self employed gardener. I’m in the middle of a 2 week course of b12 injections from my doctor.
Iv been feeling ill for quite a few month but carries on pushing myself until in the end I had to go for blood tests as I was shaking and energy levels were zero aswell as I have had hair thinning dry skin and a touch of depression which I had put all of these signs down to losing my mum a couple of years ago . Apparently I am dangerously low of b12 .
What happens now ??
Kerry x
Hi Kaw142
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.
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
Initially, 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 so please have these levels checked by your doctor.
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.
Thank you for so much for your advice . I’m pretty scared at the moment as feel totally lost and wiped out. I feel that my speech is slurring but friends have said I sound ok just look spaced out. Another injection tomorrow , half way mark xx thank you I’m glad I joined this group
My levels must have been near enough zero when I eventually got my P.A. diagnosis in 1972, 13 years after the removal of two thirds of my stomach in 1959 at the age of17.
Then aged 31 with two daughters under six and with a wife with heart problems my doctor gave me two years to live unless I ate raw liver three times a day or had B12 injections for the rest of my life.
I'm still "clivealive" now 77 years old and due my next injection next Monday