My mother is 76 year old lady who takes prescribed Omeprozole daily. She suffers terrible hand tremors & complains of foot cramps. Appears very nervous & comes out with some ridiculous things (I put a lot of that down to her hearing). She has osteoporosis & broke a vertebrae in spine however doesn’t know how this happened ( adamant it was due to pressing down on lid of bleach bottle to open it (prescribed & takes calcium daily). In the past experienced extremely sore tongue which I now know is sign she is low on Folate & requires prescription for folic acid to clear. My mum is prescribed diazepam regularly due to her stress & anxiety levels however after ready lots of posts on here I can’t help but think she must need b12 but GP has never mentioned it to her. Any advice would be appreciated!!!
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Ebonner
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Omeprazole lowers stomach acid. Getting older also lowers stomach acid because the gut is less able to produce stomach acid as we age. Someone of 76 on omeprazole probably has no stomach acid at all.
As a result food is digested poorly. Protein digestion in particular needs good levels of stomach acid to be digested efficiently, and people need more protein to stay well as they age.
The other problem of having no stomach acid is that extracting minerals and vitamins from food becomes very difficult and the sufferer ends up very deficient.
Ask your mother's doctor to test vitamin B12, folate, ferritin and iron, and vitamin D. If they are feeling generous (does that ever happen?) ask the GP to test zinc, copper and selenium as well. How many the doctor will actually test is in the lap of the gods.
Make sure your mother gets a copy of all the blood test results including the reference ranges. The word "normal" isn't acceptable, you need numbers and ranges.
I wrote a very detailed reply on another forum thread with links to other B12 books, other b12 websites, more UK B12 documents/articles and other B12 info.
Thanks for your reply & the above links. My mum suffered from a Peptic ulcer for years but had treatment for this around 30 years ago which worked for her. I’m sure she was put on Opemprozole after she had her gall bladder removed & that was at least 10 years ago. When she broke her back she couldn’t move due to excruciating pain consultant tried everything advised nothing else they could do but then tried one last drug Gabapentin. My mum calls this her wonder drug within an of taking it was up on her feet again. She has been taking this since.
My mum was diagnosed with PA back in 2008 (too late to prevent nerve damage) but mentally alert. She was recently prescribed Lansoprazole, a known drug that over time depletes B12. While taking it, over a few weeks, she's been given Doxycyclin, Amoxicillin and macroBID. Now her memory is dipping in and out (mostly out). I fear the combinations have done their worst. Now looking into care homes. Get your mum sorted with B12 ASAP and never let up. GP's are unbelievably ignorant on the subject. Do your research. Print off as much info as you can and sock it to them. I wish you and your mum well in the future.
Just wanted to say I was on Ameprozole for acid stomach, read online Ameprozole is linked to having low B12 also maximum time to use this is 7weeks i've been on it 7years !!! Told my Dr he was unaware of this . I stopped taking it and replaced with Gaviscon took 2weeks and stomach was good.
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