B12 deficiency and feel like I'm going crazy

Allergies, blood and immune system
1

hi all,

so bit of a back story , i was diagnosed with a b12 deficiency back in 2013 with a level of 149, i was then given a weeks worth of daily injections and told to resume with monthly bloods and an injection every three months. gradually i can feel my symptoms building again to the point i felt so unwell in the last few days i made an emergancy docs appointment. he didnt really understand the whole b12 can make you feel this unwell and has referred me for a brain scan which has no got me extreamly worried. 

My symptoms are the same as when first diagnosed but seem very severe although i was quite bad and havnt been for my regular three monthly injections for the last two appointments that were due thinking it wasnt doing any good, now im not so sure.

I have numbness and tingling down my face and pins and needles in my arms, a foggy confusion where i really have to concentrate to be able to function and actually have been put off driving. i feel exhasuted and drained and could sleep all day yet cant sleep well at night. my moods are all over the place with feeling tearful and depressed and i have odd vision problems. 

i had an operation to remove my gallbladder 6 months back and the symptoms started to reappear then could this be a trigger?

Do these sound like b12 symptoms or could it be something more severe ? like i say im scared about the mri ?

I also have low vitamin D and hypothyroidsim.

I would really appreciate any advice?

 

2

Sounds a lot like it to me.  If you already had low B12, giving you a nitrous oxide anaethetic would have made things dangerously worse.

Get a grip.  Get your bloods re-done, ask for a copy of the results on paper, insist on getting your B12 above 500, preferably above 1000 (using jabs) and check out your folates, ferritin, haemoglobin and red cell count.  If your B12 is low, your associated iron readings will sink and nothing will work well.

Hypthyroidism is connected to B12, so you are a candidate.

Low D won't help at all.  Corner you GP and demand detailed answers, and dump them if they don't co-operate.  These days you have to look after yourself.

Money is wasted on expensive proceedures like MRI when the root cause is simple vitamin deficiencies, which are cheap and easy to treat.  GPs are not always up to speed.

3

Thank you for a quick response , even though the doc has got me worried deep down I feel it's the b12 symptoms back with vengeance.

I didn't realise having a general anaesthetic could cause problems ?

4

Nitrous oxide (AKA "laughing gas"wink is the most common inhalation anaesthic used in surgery and dentistry.  It is a VERY well known fact that it drastically depletes B12.  Administered to subjects who are already B12 deficient it is very dangerous indeed, causing acute myeloneuropathy (neurological damage).  If your gall bladder surgery was carried out in an emergency (or without your surgeon and anaesthetist being notified of your deficiency -  more likely than you think) your present symptoms may well have been precipitated by it.  I was scheduled for non-emergency surgery this Spring, and it was cancelled at the last minute ONLY because I had the presence of mind to mention my chronic B12 and ferritin deficiencies to my surgeon.  Otherwise he would NEVER have known.  B12 deficiency also causes iron anaemia, which in turn inhibits healing after surgery.  From a fit woman with a treatable vitamin deficiency and an old toe fracture, I might have been transformed to a basket-case, with an slow-healing surgical wound prone to hospital-acquired infections.  Nice.  I spoke up.  Can you remember telling them you were B12 deficient in the pre-op questions you were asked?  Did anyone comment?  Did you receive a course of B12 jabs pre- or post-op specifically to counteract the consequences of your anaesthetic?  Ask your surgeon, not your GP.  

AN  IMPORTANT MESSAGE: To all you younger people who see nitrous oxide inhalation ("laughing gas", "whippits", "cream", etc.) as a harmless recreational drug that makes you all nice and giggly: HEADS UP!!!  You won't be laughing a few years from now when the consequences of that "crazy week at Glastonbury" kick in. It can take years of B12 supplements and "good nutrition" (not coke and chips)  to replace the B12 destroyed in a few moments of stupidity. You were born with most of your B12 pre-loaded, and it can be recycled by your body to last most of your young life with very little help. But you can rip it all out in a few breaths of gas.  Before you find out, decades later, why you feel "tired all the time" permanent damage has been done to your brain and nervous system.  Exhaustion, depression, paralysis and early onset "dementia" may follow.  Not so funny now, eh?  And of course, you won't tell your GP about your little recreational "experiment", so he won't suspect the cause and know how to advise you.   The Press was full of pictures of the discarded containers scattered on the grass..................they represent the casualties of the future. 

EVERYONE: Please stop thinking that GPs, surgeons and the NHSis god-like and can be relied upon to look after you.  It's an out-dated British cultural mindset.  The NHS is a mess at the moment due to complete overload.  In dire emergencies it is gold standard, but it frequently fails people with non-emergency and routine conditions that can easily be avoided or fixed.  You have a computer, the internet, and know your symptoms better than anyone.  The information you need to take control over your own health is easy to find.  Do your research, ask questions, prompt your physicians and HELP them to make the right decisions for you - please!

ANYONE who has B12-type symptoms and has undergone recent surgery needs to get a test. 

DON'T take folic acid (and don't get pregnant) if your B12 even MIGHT be low - find out first.. 

Did you know that taking folic acid when your B12 is already deficient can actually make you significantly worse?  Counter-intuitive? And what do doctors routinely give to pregnant women to prevent birth defects?  Folic acid!  Need a caesarian section using nitrous oxide anaesthesia?

Low B12 + folic acid + nitrous oxide = serious mental and physical damage.  Ever heard of post-natal depression?  Now you are starting to think..............  This lethal combination almost certainly destroyed the life of a member of my partner's family.

And for goodness sake, get hold of a copy of "Could it Be B12" from eBay or Amazon.  Read every page, digest, and spread the word.

AND PLEASE eat well.  Drop the microwaved ready meals (microwaving also depletes B12 in your food), cook from fresh ingredients.  Lists of high B12 and high iron foods are also on the internet.

TAKING COMMON PRESCRIBED DRUGS for other conditions like diabetes, blood pressure or cholesterol?  Check the side effects of each drug on-line to see if any of them depletes B12 -  it's easy.  Then go see your GP.

Get your B12 blood readings up to AT LEAST 500.  1,000 would be good.  Ignore NHS guidelines - they are WRONG. Read opinion on the internet.  Insist on more cobalamine jabs if you have PA and can't absorb from tablets. 

Don't know if you have PA? - get a test. 

Take control.

5

I am so upset to recently learn that my 26yr old son is doing these whippits and so much of them at once that a person at his house sent a text to my younger daughter to tell that her brother just had a mild seizure while doing these inhalants..He doesnt want me around his house because he does not want me to know what hes doing.I seen for myself this morning when I went there and seen an excessive amount of empty cartriges on his living room floor,all I could do was cry and beg him to stop,he hugged me and I was so distraught from seeing his actions first hand and even heard the huffing before I opened his front door.anyone know of how to intervene on this or some kind of intervention I coud seek out?