Hi all,
I wanted to write an update. There are a lot of horror stories online but I wanted to share some positives. Something to note is that although I am slightly anemic, my B12 deficiency was caused by long term metformin use.
My symptoms were intense and mostly neurological, wide spread numbness, confusion, brain fog, fatigue, intense anxiety and depression. I went to the ER twice with these symptoms, they diagnosed it as anxiety and send me home with some good ol' xanax. I am in physical therapy for a foot injury, I was talking to my therapist about my symptoms and he convinced me to go back to my doctor. He was like, you KNOW when something is wrong with your body.
When I first went to my PCP, he checked my B12 since a series of extensive blood work was already done at the ER to rule out other "more serious" issues. My B12 was 231, he told me to set an appt with a nurse for an injection and then get one every month. 6 days after the first shot, I was feeling absolutely like shit. Not to sound dramatic but I literally thought I was gonna die. It felt like I took a bunch of acid, I wasn't even sure of reality. Doctor was on vacay, but a NP in the office saw me, did more blood work (iron borderline low, folic acid levels ok) and started me on loading doses. 6 over the course of 2 weeks. During the loading doses, I felt like complete shit. Every cell in my body felt uncomfortable, my vision blurred, had no appetite, could hardly hold a convo. I spent an entire 2 days crying my eyes out. I read on this forum that sometimes you feel worse before you feel better which helped.
I am now 2 weeks post loading doses and I feel almost back to normal. My neurological symptoms were pretty severe so I followed up with a neurologist, she thinks I will recover fully. I had neuropathy all over my body, I could hardly feel anything. Important to note that I do not have pernicious anemia so now that I am off metformin- my body is absorbing the B12. Last blood work showed B12 at 1,531.
I will go back in 2 weeks for another injection, more blood work and then monthly injections moving forward. I have also changed my eating habits (ingesting more meat when i was practically vegetarian before) and have upped my vitamin game.
I can't help but think my vitamin regiment has also helped. I am taking One a day womens multi, vitamin D (2,000) ferrous gluconate (36 mg 2x per day), Super B complex (includes additional folate 400), fish oil, and Jarrow's 5000 methyl b12 sublingual. I think the Jarrow's is helping with the neuropathy, I noticed improvements in touch and taste sensations after starting it.
I cannot believe that something as simple as a vitamin deficiency caused me to feel like that. I wish doctors were better informed, I plan on meeting with every doctor that saw me and personally educating them. A couple of weeks ago, I thought I was gonna die and had no idea what was wrong. So for anyone who is really going thru it, please read my story and let it give you some hope. This forum really helped me get thru the worst of it, so thank you all and I hope to be of help to others as well.