Could it be B12?

[crw2ddd]

Hello,

I'm new here and looking for answers. I have been struggling with my hashimotos for about two years, changing my meds and never feeling much better. About four months ago I started having pins and needles in my hands and now it's on my forearms like a sunburn. At first I thought it was my thyroid levels because my TSH was 14 when this all went down, but now my tsh is 1.4 and even though my free levels are still a bit low, I'm still having pins and needles everyday and a burning tongue. I also feel a little itchy at times. I'm tired and unmotivated and frankly depressed by all this. I get muscles aches sometimes and lately also I've had diarrhea in the morning. I am also quite thin an have always had trouble gaining, which is the opposite of a typical hashimotos patient. I have irritated eyes and puffy eyelids as well. I always thought that once I found a stable thyroid dose or med type my symptoms would resolve but they aren't. So I'm looking for other reasons they persist and why the nerve pain has started.

A I was found to have H. Pylori in September 2017 and in May 2018, after treatment with antibiotics it was gone.

My serum b12 over past two years has been between 371 and 412 (200-900) and my ferritin is 39 (15-150) and my folate was 19.5 (>3) and my vit D is 41.5 (30-100)

Should I request some additional testing ...the nerve pain is driving me mad.

[fbirder]

There are scores of possible causes of peripheral neuropathy. The best person to try to find out what is causing yours is a neurologist. Ask for a referral from your GP.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I have great sympathy with you but have to say that my experience has been developing hashis after PA and the symptoms you mention are all those that I associated with the development of hashis. I find hashis particularly difficult to manage - much more so than the PA.

If your serum B12 levels are steady then that would imply that you don't actually have a B12 absorption problem.

My understanding is that most people with hypothyroidism seems to need TSH around the 1.0 mark to feel okay so possible that you are still undermedicated.

I'm currently waiting for results of blood work as I suspect a hashis flare - I have zero energy and the neuro problems are also starting to plague me but I know its not down to low B12.

The vitD looks as if it could be a little on the low side.

Would suggest going with fbirder's suggestion and asking for a referral to a neurologist that one idiot doctor (that I will never willingly see again) told me that the neuro symptoms would need to be a lot worse before anyone did anything about it ... rant, rant.

[EllieMayNot in reply to Gambit62]

Serum B12 is not necessarily a good indicator of cellular B12. My functional practitioner diagnosed my low B12 after testing for both Methylmalonic Acid and Homocysteine as my B12 reading was 622, right in the middle of "normal". Both the Methylmalonic Acid and Homocysteine were high and the testing proves low cellular B12. My practitioner is wise enough to know that I require IM B12 and immediately prescribed this treatment upon blood test results. Unfortunately, most medical professionals are not aware of this method of testing.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to EllieMayNot]

EllieMayNot - my response was that it is unlikely that you have a B12 absorption problem if your serum B12 levels are steady.

That isn't to say that some people don't need much higher levels of serum B12 than others - that's how statistics work.

If you don't have an absorption problem then you don't need IM injections. Although the body does tend to regulate how much B12 you absorb from food the use of very high level oral supplements by-passes this mechanism and should be effective in someone who doesn't have a problem absorbing B12 from food but has a problem metabolising/using B12 in their cells (likely to be genetic in origin).