Dr don’t seem interested

[Lily2013]

I was diagnosed with b12 deficiency in Dec. Had the injections every other day for 2wks. I had my thyroid removed 15 yrs ago and take 100mg of thyroxine now was 150mg. My dr does not seem interested has to why. It’s not my diet. I have chronic pains in my arms and I am having a MRI scan on Sunday on my spine. I can not work since having these symptoms and asked my dr to write a letter saying I’m not fit and well enough to do my job. He said he can’t do that..... please HELP. I have the majority of the symptoms foe PA is that the same name for b12 deficiency?..

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Lily2013

People with autoimmune disorders especially thyroid disorders such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease are at an elevated risk of becoming Vitamin B12 deficient.

P.A. (Pernicious Anaemia) is just one of many causes of a Vitamin B12 deficiency.

After the loading doses back in December were you given a schedule of further B12 injections in the future?

Do you know what your Folate level is?

Hopefully the MRI scan on Sunday will provide some answers to the pains you are in. Are they similar to the symptoms you were having before the loading doses?

I am not a medically trained person but I wish you well.

[Lily2013]

After b12 injection was advised I will be checked in 3 months... he had concerns with my folate and my symptoms of pain in my arms seem worse ???

[Gambit62 Administrator]

There are a number of ways that thyroid problems could lead to problems absorbing minerals and vitamins - generally they seem to affect iron first then folate and B12. It is also possible that the B12 absorption problem may not be related to your hypothyroidism at all.

The mechanism for absorbing B12 from your food is quite specialised and if it goes wrong then you more or less lose your ability to extract any B12 from your food so diet won't be relevant.

PA is one specific B12 absorption problem. It is an auto-immune disorder that attacks and destroys the mechanisms in the ileum that your body uses to extract all but a small proportion of the B12 you get from food.

Tracking down the exact absorption problem can be extremely difficult - the test for PA (IFA) is quite insensitive. A positive is a good indication that PA is the cause but a negative is a long way from ruling it out.

A few B12 absorption problems - eg tapeworms and h pylori infection are treatable but most aren't which means that it is a question of injections for life to avoid the deficiency that results from an absorption problem, ie investigating the cause is unlikely to affect the treatment that is required.

On the other hand different absorption problems can have different consequences in other ways and it can be useful to know what the problem is so you can be monitored for other problems but many of us don't actually try to go down the route of trying to get a definitive diagnosis.

[Eowyn1 in reply to Gambit62]

Excuse me --- but did you say "tapeworms"???????? are you kidding? This journey just keeps getting wierder. how does one get checked to see about tapeworms?

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Eowyn1]

claudia, tapeworms tends to be a factor in scandinavia ... its easy to know if a cat has tapeworms but a bit gross to describe. I honestly don't know if it is the same with humans but it probably is and as this isn't your thread I don't really want to go into details.

[16131613]

My gp is the same! They simply don’t seem to care! I had this issue as I was diagnosed with with thrombocytosis due to my eosinophilia rate being low and then my platelets are abnormally high and they would not look into either and now I’m b12 deficient and folate deficient but they did the loading jabs said need one 3 monthly and that’s it even though I’ve written to them