B12 deficiency : I was diagnosed as b1... - Pernicious Anaemi...

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B12 deficiency

Alfabeta profile image
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I was diagnosed as b12 deficient over four years ago and it was assumed, therefore, that I had PA and I have been on b12 injections ever since. I have none of the PA symptoms recorded by members on here and my core symptoms have not occurred with anyone else as far as I can see.

My symptoms have been:

Fatigue

Blurred vision both long and short

Small fibre neuropathy

Sudden bouts of shaking

Poor short term memory

Nominal aphasia

Tinnitus

Short bouts of semi consciousness

Auditory hallucinations

My memory and aphasia have improved significantly since treatment started and I rarely suffer blurred vision now. Fatigue went very quickly and the small fibre neuropathy came on late in the symptoms, lasted about a year and has now ceased altogether.

The longest lasting and most consistent sequence of symptoms was an occurrence of semi consciousness lasting up to ten seconds in which first tinnitus occurred lasting several seconds (sounded like Loud static on a radio) then auditory hallucinations (like lots of different people talking in a crowded pub from which was able to hear snatches of phrases) which seemed make sense during the event but no sense afterwards.

The events would occur around halfway through the twelve week injection cycle with up to ten episodes on the first day and gradually decreasing over a week then, usually no further events although sometimes there were isolated events just before or just after the injection.

The tinnitus ceased after about eighteen months and the auditory hallucinations after about thirty months.

All that was left was the beginning of the event - the semi conscious moment lasting about five seconds then coming back to normal but with some physical symptoms- tingling nerves and slight bewilderment. These events lasted the same amount of time - diminishing over seven day’s.

I requested my doctor follow the new NICE guidelines and my injections are now every eight weeks.Since the new injection cycle started, my symptoms as stated above started occurring soon after the injection - on the day of the injection or several days later then nothing for the rest of the eight weeks.

The last two cycles have shown further differences. The event has occurred a week or two after the injection and the frequency has reduced. On Tuesday - two weeks after the injection, I had four events - three in my sleep. None on Tuesday and so far, today, I have two events - one as I fell into sleep last night and one this morning while I lay in bed.

I offer this history of my experience so anyone similar can see that they are not alone and in the hope that I am over the worst and mending or am I simply opening a door to another phase!

My deficiency was caused by being a vegetarian close to vegan and my doctor proscribing omaprezole on six monthly dozes which I continued with for over six years. Heavy drinking also, did not help as I believe this affects the storage of b12 in the liver.

Good luck everyone.

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Alfabeta
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expatkerry profile image
expatkerry

This is the first time I've read about the auditory hallucination you describe (which you do perfectly) I've had this on many occasions and never realised it was due to my PA. I'm rather embarrassed to admit I thought I was having a psychic experience!!

Alfabeta profile image
Alfabeta in reply to expatkerry

Yes, and if you tell a health professional they’ll attempt to take you down the psychiatric route - that’s what they tried to do with me. If you go on the b12 site, there is an almost infinite list of b12 symptoms- look under the mental health section.

Glad that my shared memory helped. I was told by the excellent Gambit on here that the hallucinations might be linked to the tinnitus with the brain trying to make sense of the noise. I could relate to this as I once worked with a machine that had whining bearings and ones brain quite easily translated the sound into a sense that there were voices.

However, I still got the voices even after the tinnitus ceased so there was more to it.

I assume that you know that b12 deficiency is a separate condition to PA .

Good health and thank you for sharing.

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