.
"Early diagnosis is important
in that the megaloblastic
anemia resulting from [B12]
deficiency will quickly and
completely respond to
replacement therapy..."
Medical World News. April
1991.
"The extent of nervous
system dysfunction was
clearly related to the
duration of neurologic
symptoms before
treatment." Neurologic
aspects of cobalamin
deficiency, Medicine, July
1991,
in that the megaloblastic
anemia resulting from [B12]
deficiency will quickly and
completely respond to
replacement therapy..."
Medical World News. April
1991.
"The extent of nervous
system dysfunction was
clearly related to the
duration of neurologic
symptoms before
treatment." Neurologic
aspects of cobalamin
deficiency, Medicine, July
1991,
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Proper Diagnostic Questions to Locate "TERMITES" -- |
| We want to Get Rid of the Termites, right? |
| B12 Malabsorption Illness is a lot like Termites |
| Of course. No one wants to be eaten by a voracious disease that is perniciously slow. So slow that as the years go by we think we are fine, except for our age. Blaming our age, we accept our deterioration as if it were normal, much as if we mistook a time bomb's ticking for that of a grandfather clock. The fact is that low vitamin B12 is vastly abnormal and leaves us, you and me, a shell of our former selves. So, check your fingernails. If they have lines or their moons are gone, get sublingual B12, and take it. The methylcobalamin form is excellent/best because it's ready for your body to use (there are several different forms). Be sure you become familiar with the active form of B12. It works most quickly. Do this before you buy B12, else you may not get the results you need. (Remember, vitamin pills won't work because having B12 Malabsorption Illness means your stomach and intestines are no longer properly absorbing B12.) After you begin taking sublingual methylcobalamin (B12), watch your nails improve. Keep track of them and of how you feel: write down when your hands and feet fall asleep, when you are depressed, when your gums bleed, when you can't sleep, memory problems... the whole kit and caboodle. I did this because my neurologist said to keep a "Time Line" showing my shots, test results, and symptoms. He said that the Time Line could be used to verify the B12 diagnosis. Without a doubt my Time Line showed me major improvements I might otherwise have failed to attribute to the B12. Within a few weeks to a couple months, you will see a contrast develop between the old and new texture of your nails, and between the old and new you. Keep an eye on your brown spots, too. I had REALLY a lot when a news segment said that in large numbers they could be associated with cancer. I went to my doctor, who said not to worry, they were common. My doctor, who hadn't seen the news segment, said they were, "sebacious keratosis," and nothing to worry about. The pictures in the link above are not me, nor were my spots in the same locations as those shown. But, the way the brown spots looked individually was very similar, if not in some cases exactly the same. (Because I had one patch that was exactly a circle, I was able to recognize that half went away when I started having regular B12 shots.) Back to the contrast of Before and After B12: When the improvement happened for me, I could not believe I wasn't really as Old as I had felt. It was truly like being made young again: to get my memory back (though I had to retrain myself to use it -- no kidding -- ), to feel full of life, even when distressing things happen, to forget what exhaustion used to feel like: I used to be exhausted when I got up in the morning. So, write it down, or you won't believe the amount of change there is. Seriously. Because it took too long for me to get the B12 (cobalamin) I needed, I haven't regained my full working memory, nor the speed with which I used to be able to think things out. That's why you don't want to wait if you see lines on your fingernails. TAKE NOTE: I am not a doctor. I am talking to you from my own experience. Because my B12 Malabsorption Illness was not diagnosed and treated for almost two years after I had severe symptoms, I now have two-thirds LESS of my working memory and only about HALF of my cognitive processing speed; plus, my feet lose feeling sometimes when I'm walking so that I feel as if I am falling. Sometimes I do fall, which besides hurting is dangerous for an older person. (I'm 60; but don't let that stop you from taking this seriously if you are much younger. The fact is that the loss of B12 is very slow over the years, so your best bet is to begin doing something BEFORE the situation is dire.) I tried to sue the doctors who ignored my substantially low serum B12 test results, but I was pro se -- representing myself -- and my impaired working memory made it a gargantuan task. At which, so far, I have failed. On the other hand, I haven't given up. (Though this web page is another way I can increase awareness of the serious problems that are caused by having too little B12. I had thought the doctors would want to educate, as a settlement, but their lawyers uniformly rejected my offer.) HOW YOU CAN HELP: Tell your friends about this web site. Tell your relatives about the information -- in person if they don't have computers. Get Methylcobalamin lozenges TODAY. You can order it on line, which is quick and easy and you'll be sure to get the right thing. |
| Large red blood cells characteristic of B12 Malabsorption Illness aren't good at carrying oxygen. So, if you are short of breath, it may be because your blood cells are large and you have a B12 Malabsorption Illness. Do your hands and feet fall asleep? Large red blood cells cannot pass through smaller blood vessels, like those in your hands and feet. So, those parts of your body become low in oxygen and nutrients. The result is numbness: "falling asleep." Is there Pernicious Anemia in your family? Pernicious Anemia is a well known disease decreasing the level of B12 in a person's body. In Pernicious Anemia, a lack of Intrinsic Factor stops the body from getting B12 from the foods that contain it, such as meat, particularly liver, as well as eggs. (Hard to believe it's really called Intrinsic Factor, and, that there's no B12 in vegetables.) Pernicious Anemia can be hereditary, so your doctor should ask if relatives have it. But now that you've read this, be forewarned. (My doctor didn't ask.) Do You have Memory problems? This is a critical question. Any memory or cognitive test questions that you are given by your doctor, and answer wrong, should alert your doctor to the fact you may have a potentially devastating illness, which needs to be diagnosed and treated early to be held in check. (Don't lose 2/3rds of your working memory like me.) Are you Depressed? Abundant research links Depression and low vitamin B12. (If you feel depressed read the research.) If you're one of the millions of people to whom the drug companies advertise antidepressants every day, let me tell you what they aren't telling you, "Depression and low vitamin B12 are often medically linked." Personally, I think depression is a natural result of memory loss -- that's because the good times of the past disappear, allowing a horrible moment to seem like that's all there is or ever was. Add to that being tired because your large red blood cells aren't carrying enough oxygen, and Depression begins to sound like a fit. You may genuinely be someone who needs antidepressant drugs, but if you're someone who needs vitamin B12, don't you want to know? Incidentally, B12 is IN-expensive (cheap). Several month's supply of injectable Cobalamin that I use is $6 at Wal*Mart with my AAA discount; needles are .26 each. Sublingual (under tongue) B12, is around $10 at health food stores. (Sarafem, an antidepressant, was $67/mo.) If you have the symptoms listed above or lines on your Fingernails, go to your health food store today, buy sublingual Methylcobalamin and start taking it. Remember, do not buy the kind of pills you swallow because if you have malabsorption problems in your gastro-intestinal system, the pills won't work any better than liver or eggs. Would you like a B12 blood test? The answer is, "Yes." In fact, if your doctor doesn't offer the test, ask for it. And, insist that you be given your results. Your doctor may say, "They're fine." Still insist on getting your actual results. It is important for you to know your own vitamin B12 test results because the labs may say you have a normal level if it is 180; consequently your doctor may rely on this and tell you your level is normal. But, it is important to know and remember that in many other countries they recognize that a B12 level lower than 550 can result in cognitive dysfunction. For them 550 is the low, not 180. Here in the U.S., doctors, laboratories, and drug companies have agreed that a level of 200 is fine and "normal." And of course you need Anti-Depressants. Also Check out research excepts on these pages: Research and Sally Stabler, and search the Internet for more B12 information. As an aside, when you search "Vitamin B12" you get a lot of vitamin adverts. "Cobalamin" or "Methylcobalamin" is a more medical approach. |
You May Look Fine,
But . . .
But . . .
| Without enough vitamin B12, your body has a problem making new red blood cells. Instead of your blood cells maturing and dividing, they enlarge but don't divide. Technically, this is called "Macrocytic Anemia," macro meaning large. When your red blood cells are large, they show up as a high MCV (Mean Corpuscular Volume). That is, your blood cells have a lot of volume, and, there are fewer of them in your blood sample than there would be if your cells were smaller. A high MCV can indicate a B12 Malabsorption Illness. The opposite is Iron Deficiency Anemia, technically called, "Microcytic Anemia," micro meaning little. When you have Iron Deficiency Anemia and B12 Malabsorption Illness, your MCV may appear normal because the two illnesses balance each other in terms of how your blood appears (MCV). But, these two negatives don't make a positive. Quite the opposite. If your doctor glances at your blood work and doesn't ask you the proper diagnostic questions, you may suffer from undiagnosed B12 Malabsorption Illness. The inevitable result of untreated vitamin B12 Malabsorption Illness is permanent nerve damage. |
| Note: This is the third page that I did on my web site. I did it in 2003, when I was still extremely distressed that the doctors had not diagnosed my B12 malabsorption illness in time to prevent nerve damage and cognitive dysfunction. At the time, I was trying to sue, so that in the future doctors would be more aware of B12 and other people would get properly diagnosed. As I did this page, I was looking at my blood test results and seeing the warning signs the doctors had overlooked. That's why this page sounds the way it does. In the end I wasn't able to prosecute effectively because I was having more an more memory and balance problems. I believed that my feet were going numb and I was losing my balance more and more because of the length of time my B12 problem had gone undiagnosed. That is to say, I did this page before I found out that it was the privy pit making me worse. What I believe, is that if I had not had the cognitive dysfunction from the undiagnosed B12 malabsorption, I would have been better able to think about things, and I could have figured out that there was something wrong in my home before the pit's effect on me was as bad as it was in the end. As an aside, I tried to get the doctors and St. Vincent Hospital to settle: I wanted them to agree to do B12 education, to look at 550 as a more appropriate "low" for B12 than 180 or 200, and for each of them to pay me $6,000 so that I could go on. They refused. The funny thing is that I had really believed they would want to do that kind of education since I was pretty sure that they would be able to get some free tv and newspaper space since it was for the public good. This is the B12 article that I gave them, thinking they would be interested in how it shows that 550 is a more useful low than those commonly used in the United States. 6/13/06 |
The fact that half of
my brown spots went
away after beginning
B12 replacement
doesn't mean that all
brown spots are
related to low B12.
Or --
Just as there are two
types of abnormalities
caused by low B12, that
is neurological
abnormalities and
abnormalities of blood
function (not everyone
experiences both or
experiences either of
them the same) it may
be that people who only
have one of the
abnormalities don't
have fingernail ridges
and do have moons.
my brown spots went
away after beginning
B12 replacement
doesn't mean that all
brown spots are
related to low B12.
Or --
Just as there are two
types of abnormalities
caused by low B12, that
is neurological
abnormalities and
abnormalities of blood
function (not everyone
experiences both or
experiences either of
them the same) it may
be that people who only
have one of the
abnormalities don't
have fingernail ridges
and do have moons.
"Ask and you shall receive." So, please will you
donate, or shop?
donate, or shop?
| ...... |
Thank you everyone who's left a message. I had no
idea I would get so many lovely messages when I put
a response box here. However, I'm now also getting
dozens of viagra ads a day which apparently the
spammer does not realize are never published...
If you'd like to ask me a question, email me. I'll
respond just as well as I did using the comments box.
idea I would get so many lovely messages when I put
a response box here. However, I'm now also getting
dozens of viagra ads a day which apparently the
spammer does not realize are never published...
If you'd like to ask me a question, email me. I'll
respond just as well as I did using the comments box.
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