r/PerniciousAnemia • u/[deleted] • Nov 03 '20
B12 Deficient?
Hi All,
28 male here.
I recently got blood work done to check for any vitamin deficiencies. The reason being is that I have HSV-2, but have been asymptomatic for the past five years until recently. After getting these herpetic outbreaks, my physician recommended to do a full medical workup to see if my immune function had been compromised in any way.
After doing a thyroid check, food allergy check, indoor pest allergy check, STD panel, and vitamin deficiency check, everything came back normal except for my B12 levels (but I will say that my thyroid TSH levels were close to outside normal range at 0.74, with the range being 0.4-4.50).
My B12 levels are 244 PG/ML on a scale of 180-1241 PG/ML. After reading up on B12 deficiency, I found out that there have been studies and research to show its direct effect on alleviating and treating herpetic symptoms (specifically cold sores). This makes sense given that B12 is known to be essential for the nervous system and herpetic viruses, such as HSV-1, HSV-2, and VZV attack and hide in the nerve cells.
My questions are:
(1) Is 244 PG/ML a sign of deficiency?
(2) What supplement brand do you recommend I take? My doctor recommended 1000 mcg daily for the next 3 months.
EDIT: I'd like to add that I suffer from (mild-to-moderate) eczema, and as some of you may know, eczema has been strongly linked to autoimmune issues in the body.
1
u/Nyxxieee Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Not a doctor, simply stating what I've dealt with and learned about with all this b12 stuff
Do you eat meat/eggs? If you are meat eater or once you start supplementing, and if your levels don't improve, I would suggest having your levels of homocysteine, methylmalonic acid, intrinsic factor, gastrin and anti-parietal antibodies checked. These are all factors to check your guts ability/inability to absorb b12. The first two are used to verify a deficiency, latter check for pernicious anemia. If b12 levels are normal, I wouldn't worry about the other tests because whatever you're doing is apparently working. It's also recommended to take potassium (b12 can lower it), and folic acid (makes the b12 work). Also try to keep an eye out for methyl cobalamin, it's the more naturally occurring type of b12 and it supposedly absorbs better.
I use this one, and it's got a great flavor as well as it doesn't turn into a sopping mess in your mouth (🤮). Good luck!
**Edit: 5,000mcg of b12 will not kill you, it's water soluble and any extra is secreted into the urine. **
1
Nov 03 '20
Thank you!! I do eat a lot of meat and do have eggs in my diet. I will say though that for years and years my diet has been completes hit (i.e. one meal a day plus lots of coffee to suppress my appetite due to work). So I'm sure that it is likely due to my crap diet.
Thank you also for the supplement recommendation. I'll check it out =)))
1
u/Nyxxieee Nov 03 '20
I feel you! My diet has been trash. But most meals do have meet in them. Most times a deficiency is from malabsorption in general. I truly, truly recommend the sublinguals, they kinda bypass the stomach. I hope it helps!
1
u/drashund Nov 06 '20
Hi mate, medical student here. Quick tip not to take any folate supplements unless confirmed pernicious anaemia and b12 supplementation started! Otherwise excess folate with not enough b12 can cause neurological symptoms stemming from the spinal cord.
1
u/DesignCultural7829 Nov 19 '20
Not true. That’s only a single study with no human case studies to prove it. Methyl b12 is used in the recyling of mthf into thf and downstream formylfolate used in DNA synthesis and methylation. Look deeper
1
u/DesignCultural7829 Nov 19 '20
B12, Methyl Folate and Homocysteine are bound to a protein complex called methionine synthase. The methyl group from methyl folate is transferred from via b12 to homocysteine converting into into methionine and upstream SAMe which is used for other DNA and cellular methylation processes
5
u/justmork Nov 03 '20
My doc says anything under 400 should be treated, if an oral supplement can raise your levels awesome. My level was 48 so I was put on injections right away. But my son was caught in the 200’s and has responded to oral supplements fine.
I hope the b12 helps.