I have a theory...

[Katyluisa]

Does anyone on this forum who has Autoimmune Atrophic Gastritis and injects B12 more regularly than the standard 12wks seen an increase in their iron and ferritin levels? Or even just sees an increase in ferritin and iron absorption after an injection?

I haven’t absorbed iron properly since my mid twenties (now 37). For possibly the first time ever I had a blood test 2 weeks after my B12 injection. For the first time in years it appeared I had absorbed iron! As my Ferritin had increased from 8 to 30, my iron stores had increased from 9.1 to 29 and my haemaglobin had gone from 124 to 140. However on a blood test a week later, my Ferritin had dropped to 18 and my haemaglobin had gone from 140 to 127. Annoyingly they didn’t check my iron.

I predict those levels will continue to fall again between now and my next B12 injection.

I would love to hear from anyone who has seen this same reaction. As I think this theory sounds more probable than my dead parietal cells growing back?

[martinec]

Nice theory, but unlikely to be related to B12 if you have anti parietal cells.

However are you also taking betaine HCL with meals? Because that will help correct the malabsorption by improving the acid PH and allowing iron to be processed properly.

[Katyluisa in reply to martinec]

I’m not taking or doing anything different to my normal diet. I took 4 months of iron supplements at the beginning of this year and my ferritin and iron still went down. These recent sets of bloods are either miraculous healing or it’s got something to do with my blood test being so close to having my B12 injection.

[Katyluisa in reply to Katyluisa]

Oh and just to mention I’ve been tested for the parietal cell anti body 4 times in my life and been positive every time. Ive shown negative for H Pylori in every Endoscopy and ive had around 16 of those over the years. And I’ve got widespread atrophy and intestinal metaplasia. I only had an endo in Aug and it was business as usual in there.

It would be quite remarkable of me to have had a spontaneous recovery in the last 8 weeks? Incredible, but unlikely.

At the moment I’m utterly vexed. And I wouldn’t mind it if I felt well but I feel like I’ve got iron anaemia.

[deniseinmilden]

It's a guess but as all functions are executed by cells and all cells need B12 there's a chance that if given enough B12 some of your system might be "mending" and therefore working better.

[Katyluisa in reply to deniseinmilden]

That’s exactly what I am thinking. The only way to test is to ask the GP to monitor my bloods up until my next injection and then see if the same thing happens again.

It was a short lived rebound as within a week I dropped back down to more normal levels for me.

My next B12 injection would be 28th Dec. Would be interesting to measure all my levels one week prior to the injection and then again 2 weeks afterwards.

It’s the only variable I can think is playing a role.

It’s a mind melt to think I took 4 months of iron supplements this year and didn’t appear to absorb any. And I’ve calculated that this year my blood test have all been 7-9 weeks after my B12 injections. The last two are the only ones that have been in close proximity to a B12 injection.

[fbirder]

There is no obvious reason why a B12 injection might significantly change the absorption of iron.

[Katyluisa in reply to fbirder]

On irondisorders.org I have just found this.

‘’Heme iron is absorbed more efficiently than non-heme iron found in plants and dietary supplements. Other nutrients, however, such as vitamins C and B12, folate or zinc can facilitate sufficient non-heme iron absorption. Consuming certain foods and medications can interfere with the absorption of iron’’.

Perhaps the high levels of B12 at the point of injection give my body a major absorption boost?

At the point of injection I think my B12 levels must have been <2000, two weeks later they were 1470 and a week later still they were 800. On my previous blood tests which were between 7-9weeks post injection my B12 levels were down to 300-400. And at that time my iron, ferritin and haemaglobin are all significantly lower.

Do you see a similar trajectory in your B12 levels after injection?

I would love to understand the exact process of how iron, folate and B12 all work together.

My GP was concerned that my folate levels were low at 4.38. But that’s used in processing B12 isn’t it? So I think logically close to an injection it would be normal to see that?

[fbirder in reply to Katyluisa]

I find you have to take everything on websites like that with a very large pinch of salt. If they gave a reference to their claims that folate and B12 help with iron absorption then I might take them more seriously.

If you look at the bit you quoted - "Consuming certain foods and medications can interfere with the absorption of iron" So iron levels can go up and down depending on whether you've eaten something with lots of available iron or something that inhibits the absorption of iron.

There could be many, many reasons for iron to be high on that one occasion.

Having B12 injections doesn't mean that you use up folate more than without the injections. Folate levels go up and down quite rapidly, depending on what you eat.