In severe case of muscle weakness, is it possible those nerves related to muscles with higher tension get damages faster than nthe rest?

[Hamayeshguy]

I have severe and lots of symptoms l. For about one year I inject on and off but for about five months I'm following an strict regime of injection. Two times a week Hydroxocobalamin and three times methycobal Amin. At the beginning it was worsening but now it's getting improved but I walk alot. I have double vision and severe muscle weakness and pain. I couldn't sleep at night because of muscle weakness in arms and back and neck. My thigh muscles specially in right leg are so numb. My stomachs muscles feeling tormented. My symptoms getting improved but so slowly because of it was left long time untreated. My eyes and my stomach was first symptoms. Is It possible muscles with more involvement get damaged faster. It that just nerve damage or muscle tissue also get damaged during B12 deficiency.

[Narwhal10]

Hi Hamayeshguy,

I am sorry to hear of your on going difficulties. I will answer to the best of my ability and hopefully others will answer too.

I believe it best to be open minded with PA/vitamin B12 deficiency and not always put symptoms just on it or we may miss something else. It is common to have low stomach (Hypochlorhydria) so the recommend is taking a multivitamin. These essential cofactors all work in certain combinations and this is why we need the biochemists and scientists. They can explain things in layman terms to us.

Now we know B12 is needed for the outer covering (myelin sheath) but it is needed in all our 300 trillion cells. It’s needed in muscles too. But if you said to the average Joe what’s calcium needed for in the body - people say teeth and bones. Well actually there’s more a bit more - firing of nerve cells, muscle action. Same as magnesium. So, it’s learning what else you personally need to improve your symptoms.

It is also a case of being patient with our bodies, if you do push it by doing too much it will retaliate back and say NO. It is common sense - the longer damage the longer it will take to heal.

Take care

[Grygran]

My own muscle weakness started improving after many months of daily injections of hydroxocobalamin. I think you should keep going with your treatment. It takes a very long time to regenerate nerves and maybe our muscles can't work properly if nerve signals aren't getting through.

Certainly physiotherapy did nothing for me before I started my B12 regime.

My own weakness involved limbs, spine and face, rather than stomach. It hasn't normalised yet but I can walk without pain, now even when carrying weight.

You have seen some improvements, that is a sign that it's worth carrying on. Best wishes.

[Dilly_blue]

Sorry to hear things are so difficult. I have a number of health conditions (I seem to be stacking them up now I am in my 50s!) including functional B12 deficiency, and I have always found it difficult trying to unpick which of them is causing various symptoms (and so have my doctors!).

As Narwhal10 says, it might be worth considering if something else is going on as well.

High levels of MMA/ homocysteine (a result of a B12 deficiency) can have a cascade effect within the body on the expression of over 200 other genes - which I suspect may result in some of the disparate range of symptoms we get with B12 deficiency.

Do you mind if I ask what sort of age group you are in, and how long you have been having muscle weakness at night, and is it very painful (is that why it stops you sleeping at night?)? Does it improve in the morning when you get moving? And do you have anyone in your family with back/joint problems or IBS/Crohns, or with a history of uveitis (inflammation in the eye, around the iris), or plantar fasciitis?

I only ask as it may be worth asking your doctor for a referral to a rheumatologist, to rule out other causes of these painful night time symptoms.

Autoimmune diseases seem to associate quite heavily with PA/B12 deficiency; we have ankylosing spondylitis in our family (I have it as well), which is notoriously difficult to diagnose (it can take up to 25 years), many GPS are ignorant of the details, even though I think it is reasonably common. Early morning / night time stiffness (so that you can’t sleep), that reduces as you gradually get moving, is one of the key symptoms. It may be worth ruling this out (it is quite easy to treat).

Good luck with it, and I hope you manage to get some respite soon.

Ps - I am not medically trained.