Hi all,
I just wanted to share my story as I've had so many thoughts and concerns rattling around my head these past couple of weeks that I don't know if I'm coming or going.
I have had occasional heart palpitations since at least late spring, but didn't really think much of it until a month ago when they became more frequent. On a weekend a couple of weeks ago my heart rate felt high and the palpitations were near-constant. Monday I went to the docs, she took blood and an ECG, and that evening she called to tell me that she wasn't happy with my ECG result and to get myself off to A&E for a more conclusive check. They took more blood, did two more ECGs, a chest x-ray and couldn't see anything to be concerned about and I was sent home, albeit with a referral to the local palpitations clinic.
The following day the doctor called but I missed her call. She left a message to ask how I was and that she would call back later and also mentioned my vitamin B12 was low. She didn't call back. Thanks to a mix up we didn't talk until Thursday. She said my B12 was low and that it would need replacing and to book a blood test which was for an IFA test. I couldn't get an appointment until the following Tuesday.
I had the blood test done, still waiting on the IFA test results but she did call to tell me that she had asked for my B12 to be retested from the same sample just to double-check, and it was still low and to book up for 6 loading doses of B12 which I have done, but the earliest they could start them was the 28th, because they want to start them on a Monday. I get the logic of that, but still, it will be 3 weeks since being told I am B12 deficient to actually starting treatment which is frustrating.
The weirdest part about all this is that the week before my trip to A&E I felt okay aside from some grumpy insides (I've been playing around with the fibre in my diet and I think I overdid it) and have not suffered from the common symptoms of B12 deficiency up to this point. I have no idea if it was my doctor or the hospital that checked but I'm glad they did because my levels on the two tests I've had were 88ng/L and 96 ng/L.
How can it be that low without me displaying more of the symptoms that so many of you suffer from? Don't get me wrong, I would definitely say that over the past few years, life has lost its sparkle, I have been too much in my own head, just existing rather than living, but I wouldn't say I've felt low, just kind of meh. Physically I've been okay, my job involves a good four miles of walking every day, as well as lifting and carrying things and I've not felt any less capable. I don't get it. I got into a habit of sleeping in the afternoons during lockdown when I was furloughed for 3 months but have been weaning myself off those in the past couple of months.
I am fascinated to see what effects the jabs have, to see if I feel any more switched-on, engaged and alive. Maybe I had slowly been feeling less of those things but it happened so gradually I barely noticed. It's just annoying I have to wait 11 days - I have been off work for two weeks already. The palpitations have stopped, but my heart rate was still higher than I'd like it to be. I mean, I feel a lot calmer but I have been mainly semi-laying down on my bed. My appetite, which has been non-existent, is coming back but eating is hard work. My stomach and insides in general still feel angry.
I am so confused because all this just came out of the blue. I have no idea what will come of it but maybe it will all work out in the end? That's what I'm clinging to. There's not much else I can do really.
B12 deficiency genetic? Is it PA?
Is it B12 deficiency?
Teenager with B12 Deficiency - Help
Book I just bought about Vitamin B12 Deficiency
