symptoms or unexplained anaemia.
The GP thinks many patients with B12 deficiency fall through the net
because many symptoms are not recognised. These symptoms can range
from severe depression to paralysis.
Several patients on his books were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an
incurable degenerative disease, but have responded well to B12 injections.
Others who lost the sight of an eye or collapsed in the street or at home
have also been diagnosed with vitamin deficiency and have benefited from
the injections.
Dr. Chandy has battled for decades to persuade the medical establishment
to listen to his controversial views. He has also developed a more modern
way of diagnosing vitamin deficiency, which replaces an approach which
dates back more than 150 years.
The slightly built 60-year-old doctor hopes to persuade Health Secretary
Patricia Hewitt that the NHS should adopt his new diagnostic approach.
He is convinced this will improve the health of thousands - if not millions
of patients and ultimately save billions in unnecessary diagnostic
procedures and treatment.
A B12 test costs just £3.37 and a six-month course of injections costs £28.
Betty Ritson is a feisty patient who was suffering from a range of chronic
illnesses until she was diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency.
"If it wasn't for you, doctor, I wouldn't be here at all, I would be fertilising
my own flowers," said Mrs Ritson, just one in an audience of around 100
people, mostly patients, who attended a press conference earlier this week
at Peterlee Leisure Centre.
The event, organised by Dr Chandy with the backing of the B12
Committee, a support group made up of former patients, was to call for a
revolutionary break with medical tradition. According to Dr Chandy, his
innovative approach to diagnosing vitamin B12 deficiency could transform
the lives of thousands of patients.
Within a few minutes another patient, Ian Marley, who had complained of
a lack of energy and constant tiredness before being diagnosed as being
B12 deficient, climbed to his feet to blurt out: "I feel on top of the world,
happy-go-lucky. I feel absolutely wonderful. So thank you."
Another patient - a woman called Jacqueline - rose to her feet.
"I had dizzy spells, pins and needles and felt numb down one side.
Eventually I keeled over in Peterlee town centre," she said, adding that her
hospital consultant suggested her problems were all in her mind.
But after being diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency and being given a
course of monthly treatments, her problems disappeared. "I feel wonderful
after my injections and I know when I need them because my
concentration goes and I drop things," she said.
A few minutes later another of Dr Chandy's patients - a woman called
Rosemary - told her own story.
"I was diagnosed as a possible multiple sclerosis case. I used to fall over. I
lost the vision in my left eye," she said.
Like the other patients, she responded well to the B12 injections and was
restored to health. "If I didn't have the injections I wouldn't be here. You
are the best thing since sliced bread," she said.
The cheers and enthusiastic applause which greeted this comment showed
the unusual bonds which exist between Dr Chandy and his patients.
Since the early 1980s, when Dr Chandy first put his unconventional views
on B12 deficiency into practice, around 750 patients at his East Durham
practice have been given either B12 supplements or injections.
Remarkably, Dr Chandy claims the vast majority of his patients have
benefited from his highly unusual treatment regime.
Until recently, NHS hospital specialists have taken a dim view of this
maverick GP's diagnostic approach.
But after a review of Dr Chandy's work, his novel approach to the
diagnosis and treatment of B12 deficiency has been cautiously approved
by Dr. Jonathan Wallace, consultant haematologist at Newcastle's Freeman
Hospital.
His 'pathway of care' was endorsed by Easington Primary Care Trust in
July - although that organisation has been swallowed up by the new
County Durham Primary Care Trust which was established last month.
Dr Chandy's conviction that vitamin B12 deficiency could be the cause of
many illnesses began when he was a young doctor in India, more than 40
years ago. He began to wonder whether there could be any link between
the ill health of Hindu patients and their vegetarianism.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can be caused by a number of factors, including a
vegetarian or vegan diet, because B12 is found in meat, liver, fish, eggs
and milk.
But many people - and Dr Chandy believes this figure to be much higher
than the conventional view - lack the ability to absorb vitamin B12 from
their diet, meaning the only way this balance can be redressed is by
injections.
He experimented by giving some of his Hindu patients B12 injections. In
most cases their health improved.
All of this was still on his mind when he moved to the UK and set up in
practice in County Durham back in 1970.
As a single-handed GP looking after more than 3,000 patients he didn't
have much spare time, but what time he had he devoted to researching the
role played by vitamin B12 in maintaining good health and what might
happen if a patient was deficient. He became convinced that the threshold
of vitamin B12 deficiency used by NHS doctors to measure this condition
was far too low. (Information on B12 levels)
It took him a decade before he was able to start treating UK patients. His
first patient - a woman called Glenys - was in the audience on Monday.
"I was in a terrible state, as weak as a kitten," she said. "I was diagnosed
with pernicious anaemia. Since then I have been getting the injections for
more than 20 years."
Dr Chandy believes many people are unable to extract vitamin B12 from
their food. The vitamin is known to be essential to maintain a healthy
nervous system and Dr Chandy suspects this is why a deficiency can
cause inflammation of the nerves and dementia.
Dr Chandy's remarkable story was featured in the BBC television
documentary Inside Out.
Catherine Iceton, a 30-year-old mother from Peterlee, told how she was
able to stop using a wheelchair and walk normally again, despite being
diagnosed with MS, after a course of B12 injections. "It is surreal. I have
to pinch myself. I have woken up from my nightmare," she told cameras.
Another patient featured on the documentary, Jeannette Chapman, 36,
from Peterlee, revealed how B12 injections helped her recover from
severe depression and allowed her hair to grow back.
On the same BBC film, the Newcastle-based consultant haematologist
Jonathan Wallace, who reviewed Dr Chandy's methods, said it was
"possible" the GP was right after all.
Dr Chandy may well have the last laugh when his research is published in
a leading journal in the near future.
More than anything, the veteran family doctor wants to be able to pass the
burden on to other, younger doctors.
"I am a tired old man. I can't fight any longer," Dr Chandy told his
audience of admirers. "It is the truth. I love my patients, this is the reason I
have done all this."
6:01am Friday 3rd November 2006
From: The Northern Echo, United Kingdom
www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/health/display.var.1001911.0.
my_work_is_a_labour_of_love.php
It was clear that something extraordinary was happening. In a
crowded East Durham meeting room one patient after another
was standing up to tell their story of how a simple course of
vitamin injections had changed their lives.
The first to speak at Peterlee Leisure Centre was Betty Ritson,
a patient of Dr. Joseph Chandy, a general practitioner who has
defied medical convention by finding previously undiagnosed
vitamin B12 deficiency in hundreds of people over the last 25
years. According to the family doctor, vitamin B12 deficiency
may affect up to 12 per cent of the UK population, and is
massively under-diagnosed by NHS doctors.
Vitamin B12 plays a vital part in the manufacture of red blood
cells and if the vitamin is lacking, the patient may go on to
develop one or more of a number of conditions.
Controversially, Dr Chandy believes B12 deficiency must be
suspected in all patients with unexplained neuro-psychiatric
Family doctor from County Durham in Great Britain
develops a revolutionary theory with a huge impact
for patient health
|
Under-diagnosis is a health boundary that bites.
(taken from a local paper)
|
Because of difficulties in getting permission from the NHS to continue with
injections, Glenys was denied B12 injections for two years. "They tried
tablets but they didn't work. I needed the injections because I wasn't
taking the vitamins out of my food," she said.
Her health declined during these two years but since the injections were
resumed she says she has enjoyed good health. "I am 60 years old now
and there is nothing wrong with me," she said, proudly.
