Symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency - that I cannot find an answer to....

[Madman070578]

I had a low Vitamin B12 (125 mg/L) and low folate.

One of my symptoms was severe pins and needles - particularly my legs, feet and genital areas.

Is it common to have more severe symptoms in one leg more than the other? I have quite severe pins and needs in my left leg, and milder pins and needles in my right leg.

[Narwhal10]

Hi Madman070578,

You have a dominant hand do you not ? The hand that you write with ? If you ever played football and I mean soccer, you would have a more dominant foot to kick the ball with.

Our hearts are slightly displaced to the left. Because we have dominant sides our muscles on that side are incrementally bigger. Whilst muscles on the other side are weaker. This impacts our nervous system.

We have all these little misnomers. We are not symmetrical. Now the Nervous System is complex and nerves are minuscule. So, yes you can experience worse pain in one leg. There are approximately 7 trillion nerves. I would not have liked to be the person counting them.

Have a quick read on Wikipedia to understand a bit about :-

1) The Central Nervous System.

2) The Peripheral Nervous System which is divided into 3 systems :-

i) The Autonomic Nervous System.

ii) The Enteric Nervous System.

iii) The Somatic Nervous System.

There are major nerves which can easily be identified from an image. There are different types of nerves too.

A) The ones from the brain to the body are called Motor.

B) The ones from the body to the Brain are called Sensory or Afferent.

So, if you understand a tiny bit of anatomy you may understand you symptoms more.

I always clock a person’s gestures, which hand they write with and Neurologists ask which hand do you write with.

Hope that helps.

🐳

[Madman070578 in reply to Narwhal10]

Thank you as always Narwhal10

I've had a read of your suggestions and that makes a lot more sense now.....

[Wwwdot in reply to Madman070578]

Hi Madman

Just to confirm your observations and Narwhal’s (excellent as always) comment, my neuralgia was not symmetrical, neither is my hand pain, or leg pain.

And when I get spots they are not symmetrical either, except when I have one right on the end of my nose! 🤣

🤗🤗🤗

[ReallyWondering]

yes, I have pins and needles in my feet and one is always worse. Still getting weekly shots to combat this.

[Madman070578 in reply to ReallyWondering]

Are you in the UK, ReallyWondering?

I'm in Wales and my GP only offered me 4 B12 jabs and then 3 monthly.

He is suspecting PA and I've got a whole list of neurological symptoms.

[ReallyWondering in reply to Madman070578]

I am in the US and on the weekly shots, on week 11 now. NP tried to skip to once a month after 4 shots because my level was in the 'normal' range, but I started regressing. Still have tingling in my feet and ringing in my ears (not sure if this is related). I was also on PPI's for heartburn for 2 months, but stopped a week ago because they weren't working. However, the daily heartburn seems to be subsiding now. I'm wondering if the low B12 was causing it. I've read that the PPIs can cause B12 malabsorption.

[Rexz]

Hi Madman, yes, with Narwhal and Wwwdot. I had numbness on the entire right side of my body. Like someone drew a line from the top of my head down to my junk in the trunk. Absolutely everything on my right side of that line was completely numb my face, torso, arm, leg etc. but everything on the left was perfectly fine. I think it must have been quite comical to watch me trying to brush my teeth with my left hand!! If you're right handed give it a try it's very hard at first.

Rexz

[Madman070578 in reply to Rexz]

Thank you for your reply. I’ve been worried something else is going on - other than my b12 deficiency.

I’ve got quite severe pins and needles one side and a lot milder the other.

Hope your situation has improved with treatment.

[Narwhal10 in reply to Rexz]

I chuckled at this ‘head down to my junk in the trunk’.

😘

[Rexz]

Yes, I've got most of it back. It's taken me years of steady improvement. I still have some residual balance issues and minor residual numbness in my right hand and right foot. No longer pins and needles though. I am thinking the residual stuff may be permanent damage that I'll just have to live with. But not so bad considering where I was.

[Madman070578 in reply to Rexz]

It is odd sensations I’m having trouble getting to grips with - which I’m hoping is related to b12. I wake up and I think I feel a bit better, then it feels like my nerves start waking!

The feeling I describe is like I can feel blood pumping in my veins (or a pulsating feeling) where there are lots of nerves endings….. like feet.

Thank you everyone for your replies.