Balance

[Meerkat1234]

I have just fallen into the side of my sink. Keeps happening losing my balance. I know this can be a B12 deficiency symptom. Could any of you tell me if it is a thyroid symptom. I also have numb hands feet and mouth. Thank you.

[nightingale-56]

Hi Meerkat1234 . It does sound very much like a B12 deficiency with all your symptoms, and you would be best to get a thorough blood test for this before you supplement. The Pernicious Anaemia forum on HealthUnlocked would be able to give you a lot of information about this and tell you what tests to have done. It would be wise to have thyroid tests as well.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to nightingale-56]

Hello nightingale-56 Thank you for your reply. I have nearly all of the B12 deficiency symptoms according to the PA site. I have had thyroid tests and my FT3 was really low. We are fighting with dr to get B12 injections. I have looked back at people’s posts about balance and that can cause balance problems.

[nightingale-56 in reply to Meerkat1234]

It would help to raise your FT3, but those symptoms certainly sound like B12 symptoms to me, and that is how my B12 deficiency started. GP would only give B12 injections once every 8 weeks, and that was not good for me, so I got advice from PA Society and self-inject every other day now. Much improved balance wise, and slightly improved numbnessin toes.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to nightingale-56]

Thank you for your reply. What you have suffered from sounds the same. It is disgusting that people cannot get B12 injections from their doctors. I find it unbelievable. The dr has agreed to give me one tomorrow then he wants to do a blood test. What is the point of that.

[nightingale-56 in reply to Meerkat1234]

Oh Meerkat1234 , that would be no good at all. All he would be doing is testing what has been given tomorrow. Once you start B12 injections you are not supposed to test again. Please do get proper information from The Pernicious Anaemia Society.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to nightingale-56]

I will do that. Thank you for your kind replies. I appreciate it very much.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Meerkat1234]

He should test B12 and folate and test for Pernicious Anaemia BEFORE giving B12 injection

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hello SlowDragon. Do you remember I had large blood platelets and you sent me a link about macrocytic anaemia. Is this the same as Pernicious anaemia.

My Serum Folate is 4.28 ug/L N/R:3.0 - 20-20.00

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Meerkat1234]

Your B12 and folate both likely extremely low BECAUSE you have been left on far too small a dose of levothyroxine

But it’s possible you may also have Pernicious Anaemia.

Helpful link

patient.info/doctor/macrocy...

Folic acid supplement should not be started until 2-3 days after first B12 injection or a week after starting daily B12 supplement

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

That should have read Folate 4.28 ug/L N/R 3.00:- 20.00. I have asked for this B12 injection. Have I done the wrong thing.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Sorry to be asking another question. What is the test for Pernicious Anaemia that the dr does.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Meerkat1234]

as explained by CherylClaire in this reply on the question you asked on PAS forum

healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...

An IFab (intrinsic factor antibody) test result, if positive, will confirm PA for about 50% of those who have it. A negative result will not therefore tell a GP that you don't have it - but not all of them seem aware of this.

And in her follow up reply on same post

A haematologist can easily test for MMA level. Haematologists tested my MMA four times. A haematologist, you would expect, would have decided already to do this, as a secondary test for suspected B12 deficiency, where perhaps B12 not below range, but symptoms pointing that way. Since you have already presented with large platelets, it seems a bit late in the day to bother with. Neurological symptoms should be treated by every other day injections until no more improvement can be gained by doing so.

This is the medical guidance given to GPs when treating those with B12 deficiency with neurological symptoms. This is also what my own GP was advised to give me when she suspected functional B12 deficiency. This does not mean "until the nurses cut up" or "until the GP decides that nerve damage must have healed" - it means until the nerve damage repair is as good as it can ever be, because the next stage will be a maintenance dose. Be sure you are at a stage that you would want to maintain. Bear in mind that that nerve repair can be a slow process. You may be unlucky and have some permanent nerve damage - but this decision is your's to take. 

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you SlowDragon. I am so grateful for all of your help. My doctors surgery are absolutely useless and I feel so let down by them. Thank goodness this forum exists. Appreciate all your help so much.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

you had lots of excellent advice on your PAS post here

healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes but what I want to know is macrocytic anamia the same as Pernicious Anaemia as they have different names.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Meerkat1234]

slightly different as explained in link I gave you earlier

Here it is again

patient.info/doctor/macrocy...

[Meerkat1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you very much. I appreciate your reply.

[thyr01d]

Thanks for posting this Meerkat, I too am unbalanced and fall sometimes and have strange sensation in hands and feet (eg not feeling accelerator pedal properly and feel as if wearing light gauntlets!). Just went this morning for blood test. Slightly frustrating because GP insisted I waited for a consultation before blood tests and I was too anxious not to start supplementing B12 because I have a lot of the deficiency symptoms and am vegan so likely to be deficient. I'm rather hoping it is B12 deficiency as that is treatable. Hoping for a good outcome for you.

[Meerkat1234 in reply to thyr01d]

Thank you for your reply. It helps me when someone has the same thing as me. What is your thyroid doing. All the symptoms that we are having are listed on the Vitamin B12 defficiency check list.

[thyr01d in reply to Meerkat1234]

Ah good, it helped me reading your post. My thyroid apparently does nothing!! TSH was over 95 with 95 being coma level when I eventually got a referral to a good endocrinologist. Now have been on the same dose of T3, which was given to me at the hospital and worked immediately, for several years which is why I don't think this is thyroid. How about you? Btw, my daughter, a vet, told me, kindly, that I shouldn't go to the GP with the idea that it is B12 just because the symptoms match, because the same symptoms will match other causes, so I must let the GP do the differential diagnoses. So we could have something different causing this. What will you do if your GP does the same as mine and you have to wait for a face to face appointment and then wait for the blood test? I was too anxious not to supplement with B12 even though I know that messes up the test results, but I asked for the surgery to do the bloods before the appointment and was declined. (If you are too tired to reply don't worry)

[Meerkat1234 in reply to thyr01d]

Hello thyrOid. Hope it is not too late to reply. I have been resting after fighting at the doctors for the injection. My thyroid is underactive and I am taking 50mcg of levothyroxine. We are going to see a private endocrinologist in July who I have seen on the NHS in the nineties for a bone scan which showed the calcium in my spine and hips were half what they should have been. I don’t really understand about FT3. I am appalled by the treatment from my doctors surgery. I don’t know what to do. Is your doctor giving you B12 injections. Why are you a vegan Take care.

[thyr01d in reply to Meerkat1234]

Hi Meerkat, I missed your reply last evening. Did the doctors come round and agree to give you B12? Are your calcium levels better now? As I understand it T3, is what T4 (as in Levothyroxine) is converted to in the body. My body seems not to do the conversion, which I think is because ferritin is always at the bottom of the range. I am vegan because I can no more bear the thought of animals being impregnated year after year and then having their calves taken away than I could bear the thought of humans suffering this way. I won't know what my doctor is going to do until the results of the blood tests come through in about a week. How about you? I am so sorry you have received appalling treatment. What is the surgery going to do for you now? Are you anticipating that the endocrinologist will make sure you are given the treatment you need?

[Meerkat1234 in reply to thyr01d]

Hello thyroid. The doctor has only to give me one then a blood test. I don’t know what my calcium levels are like now.The endocrinologist is retiring in August so I have cancelled it. I hope you get on okay with your doctors. Thanks for explaining about FT3. Thank you for replying.