Low B12?

licklemoose said:

i spent 20 minutes on phone to drs today to be told all urgents and on the day appointments have gone
i keep asking at my routine blood tests to get B12 tested but its never done
ive had ongoing issues for what seems like forever but they are getting worse, i was putting it down to low ferritin but been taking iron daily for over a month
fatigue
dizzy now and then
weakness
aching joints
exhausted
chest pains
short of breath
blinding headaches
stiff neck
feel weighed down
heart rate increased
short tempered and very snappy
pins and needles
constipation
increased BS
im now waiting for a dr to call me back
feels like im literally at deaths door

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In addition to metformin are you taking prescription antiacids e.g. omeprazole? Not a dietician but this sounds like some kind of dietary deficiency possibly exacerbated by the meformin and it would be reasonable to get a check done. If stomach acid is low then things won't get absorbed as well. Try a google of Parick Holford's 100% health check/programme. It will take you through a free detailed check and may suggest areas to focus on based on your scores. There is no need to buy his supplements however!

HSSS said:

I’m having similar issues. Last year I was 159 and told it was fine. I disagreed and used sublingual to raise levels to above the 800’s in 2 months. Felt much better. Now this year the levels have dropped back to 300’s and still falling. Drs still insisting that’s fine with no explanations as to why with a b12 rich diet and no drugs that might cause issues it’s dropping so rapidly, stores are supposed to last a few years. I’m holding off of supplements again til next blood test next week. Then I’m taking them again. I’m assuming it’s some sort of absorption problem but I can’t get them to take me seriously either.

Incidentally I also have persistently low ferretin and spa tone is nowhere near strong enough for me. Liver seems to work best. Then ferrous sulphate or fumerate.

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Mayoclinic.org - B12 deficiency and similar sites list coeliac disease, other bowel conditions causing malabsorption, pernicious anaemia and ( gulp) fish tapeworm as causes. Maybe put theses diagnoses under the docs nose and see whether he can ignore them ( or risk maybe getting sued for not being thorough).

I'm another with a high meat diet who has been deficient in B12.
Rectified beautifully by sublingual supplements. No need for injections at all.
In my case it is malabsorption, but there are a number of reasons that can affect cvit and min intake.

Asuuming that someone won't be deficient because they eat certain foods is a widely believed myth, and it causes quite a lot of unfortunate health complications. Even doctors believe this - and they REALLY should know better.

I had to pay privately for some vit/min tests because the NHS does not offer them as standard, so I would advise people to take responsibility for their own health whenever possible. Most doctors do not know what the symptoms of Vit D or K or even E deficiency are - let alone Magnesium or Potassium. And without that knowledge it will never cross their minds to order blood tests to establish a deficiency, even if the patient in front of them is displaying classic symptoms. And then many of the tests aren't available on the standard NHS approved list!

Brunneria said:

Asuuming that someone won't be deficient because they eat certain foods is a widely believed myth, and it causes quite a lot of unfortunate health complications. Even doctors believe this - and they REALLY should know better.

I had to pay privately for some vit/min tests because the NHS does not offer them as standard, so I would advise people to take responsibility for their own health whenever possible. Most doctors do not know what the symptoms of Vit D or K or even E deficiency are - let alone Magnesium or Potassium. And without that knowledge it will never cross their minds to order blood tests to establish a deficiency, even if the patient in front of them is displaying classic symptoms. And then many of the tests aren't available on the standard NHS approved list!

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I dont know about the NHS but here and type 1 (as far as i know) these tests are standard for my driving review.....

Im being watched fairly closely.

Cobia said:

I dont know about the NHS but here and type 1 (as far as i know) these tests are standard for my driving review.....

Im being watched fairly closely.

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You get tested for vits B12, D, E and K? And minerals potassium and magnesium? For a driving review? As standard?
Tests for magnesium are most definitely not standard, and it is difficult to find anywhere who will test it. Blood mag is useless. They have to biopsy tissue to get any useful info.

Where do you live?
Maybe we should all move to where you are...

kitedoc said:

Mayoclinic.org - B12 deficiency and similar sites list coeliac disease, other bowel conditions causing malabsorption, pernicious anaemia and ( gulp) fish tapeworm as causes. Maybe put theses diagnoses under the docs nose and see whether he can ignore them ( or risk maybe getting sued for not being thorough).

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An email consult will be going in with the next lot of results with lots of links unless I get a pleasant surprise with the results

Brunneria said:

You get tested for vits B12, D, E and K? And minerals potassium and magnesium? For a driving review? As standard?
Tests for magnesium are most definitely not standard, and it is difficult to find anywhere who will test it. Blood mag is useless. They have to biopsy tissue to get any useful info.

Where do you live?
Maybe we should all move to where you are...

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Dont know about vit k but b12 vit d definetly potasium ect big list. Vampires fill 4 testubes every year.

Energize said:

A good introduction to B12 defiency is this film (below) It's a 'fun' film but with a very stong message re Vit B12. There is also a book of the same title which is more factual, with lots of references, by the same author

Once I got started on the research, I realised there are so many others with the same problems and HCPs not listening to them!!!

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late to the game, sorry.

been watching my B12 and wifes for a while.

THIS Video....Priceless.

if you don't want to watch the film, DO see the end, where sally and others discuss the issues in detail.
real informative, and scary as hell

My mum had senile dementia, sure it was the true cause, BUT
she also had a few simple falls, broke shoulder, broke arm, broke hip all with in a year or two..

Declined so dramatically after hip, we ended placing her in a home..
How i WISH i knew this back then just to RULE it out.

I can't change my past, but i hope to god this video may help to change someones.
if your T2D, and taking met..insist on the B12 test.

It wasn't mentioned, and it wasn't offered to me
I had to ask..almost one year after DX i finally got one

I had awareness early on, thank you @Winnie53

So made enquires on google, and began taking a sublingual b12 vitamin.
my b12 was i think at the lower end when tested in july but in range 338 .( 160-800 )

i hate to think were that would be next year if i hadn't found this forum, taken the supplement
and insisted on being tested.

To me, This to me is NOT a risk worth taking.
If your T2D, and NOT been tested...

get it checked..Find out, don't be put off.
we're worth it.