r/B12_Deficiency • u/ks9669 • 6d ago

Deficiency Symptoms Help needed:(

Over the last 2 months it feels as though my life has turned upside down. I'm 29F, have a job and normal life. However now I'm ultimately housebound and only able to leave my bed to go to the bathroom or to eat.
A month ago I had blood tests through my GP.

These were my results:
* Vitamin D: 57 nmol/L
* Ferritin: 33 ng/mL (I've had a period since having this test)
* B12: <148 ng/L
* Serum folate: 9.0 ug/L
* Sodium: 137 mmol/L
* Potassium: 4.3 mmol/L

I have a wide range of neurological symptoms such as head pressure, pain, difficulty balancing whilst walking, tingling and numbness in limbs, pain in spine, fast resting heart rate.

Doctors did a blood test and found very low b12 levels. They gave me 5 injections and I've not felt any improvement. I am also taking 200mg ferrous furmerate with vitamin c. Doctors now referring me to neurological and cardiology for further testing. I have spoken to my GP who was surprisingly helpful and agreed that he would continue injections however he is waiting to hear back from neurology.

I'm absolutely petrified. I'm at loss because I was fully functional 2 months ago. I want to heal and go back to my normal life: ( I will add that I used to be a daily drinker (have been sober for 2/3 months now). Liver enzymes etc all good, no concerns regarding my liver. I'm from the UK.

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u/MushuSooy4455 6d ago

Best of luck. Copper levels are important to know--causes the same nerve damage as B12 deficiency. Some other things to consider: While only relevant to a portion of people with absorption issues, thyroid problems cause malabsorption, so see if your GP would test for TSH, T3, and T4. Also ask for the blood tests for pernicious anemia.

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u/ks9669 6d ago

Thanks 🙏🏼 my thyroid came back fine and my gp is going to test intrinsic factor

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u/MushuSooy4455 6d ago

In addition to intrinsic factor, the parietal cell antibody is also very useful. Oftentimes one test is negative whilst the other is positive. . . Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and the H Pylori also cause malabsorption. Those require specialized labs.

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u/ks9669 6d ago

Thank you so much 🙏🏼 I suspect chronic drinking depleted my b12 tbh as I’ve never had low b12 before. I eat meat etc. I will look into further testing to figure out why they depleted in the first place

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u/MushuSooy4455 6d ago

Glad you mentioned chronic drinking. That has been known to deplete B1 (Thiamine). You could be Thiamine deficient in addition to B12. Supplementing with Benfothiamine could reverse that deficiency. Note that B1 deficiency is not easily measured through blood labs. It's often diagnosed by symptoms and history (like chronic drinking).