Vitamin B12 History, Illustrations
and
Symptoms of Vitamin B12 Deficiency
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Vitamin B12 deficiency - a health boundary that bites
REMEMBER: Not every one has the same symptoms of vitamin B12
deficiency. You and your best friend may both be low in vitamin B12, but have
very different symptoms.
Because the symptoms of low vitamin B12 vary so much from person to person
the medical community has often concentrated on one symptom and ignored
others, with the result that many people with severe symptoms of low B12 do not
get treatment because they don't have the symptom popular on a given day, the
"symptom d'jour" you might say.
Even today when there is more knowledge about vitamin B12 and its symptoms,
with a lot more research having been done to shed light on the symptoms of
vitamin B12 deficiency, there is still a tendency for healthcare providers to do
what they are familiar with from the past. And that might not be best for you if
you have different symptoms than your healthcare provider has commonly
thought of for vitamin B12.
For example, even after I was diagnosed with "profound vitamin B12 deficiency"
another doctor, one not at the hospital where I was diagnosed, said that I couldn't
have a vitamin B12 deficiency because I wasn't a vegetarian. For that particular
doctor, the first and most important thing she looked for, to see if someone might
be vitamin B12 deficient, was a vegetarian diet.
So, anyone coming to her who wasn't a vegetarian wasn't going to have their
vitamin B12 level considered as a possible cause of any negative health issues
they might be experiencing.
Another example is more general and has to do with the fact that there are two
general categories of vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms: those that are related to
nerves, and those that are related to blood.
While it appears that a low vitamin B12 level if experienced over a long time will
inevitably lead to blood disorders, that is, to the blood cells being too large, not
everyone who initially has serious B12 problems will have the large blood cells
associated with advanced deficiency or the disease of pernicious anemia.
Because of the wide and confusing variety of low vitamin B12 symptoms, it is
useful to look at your fingernails and see whether they have ridges or are losing
their moons. These simple signs show low B12.
1850s -- English doctor, Thomas Addison, described a lethal "pernicious" form of
anemia, related to pathological gastric mucosa and associated with the stomach
having little or no acid.
1926 -- Georges Richard Minot and William Parry Murphy reported that 45 patients
with pernicious anemia had been cured by eating large quantities of raw liver.
1929 -- William Castle discovered that “intrinsic factor” in
the gastric mucosa was needed to absorb liver's active
ingredient, initially called “extrinsic factor,” and that
intrinsic factor was lacking in pernicious anemia patients.
1934 -- Minot, Murphy and Whipple received the Nobel
Prize in Medicine for their research isolating extrinsic
factor and identifying it as a vitamin.
1948 -- Pure vitamin B12 was produced.
1956 -- British chemist, Dorothy Hodgkin, described
the structure of the B12 molecule.
1964 -- Dorothy Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
With knowledge of the B12 molecule, pernicious anemia, once fatal, could be
treated with injectionsof vitamin B12, as cyanocobalamin, and patients recovered.
Because blood cells in B12 deficient people were often larger than normal blood
cells, B12 deficiency was linked with the blood disorder, anemia; the fact that B12
deficiency was known to be accompanied by nerve and
neuropsychiatric problems was overlooked. The governing
belief was that without anemia, there was no B12 deficiency.
This inaccurate view is changing as new markers are found.
Two markers relating to intracellular functional deficiency
are methylmalonic acid and homocysteine.
Today it is clear that anemia is only one of
many different symptoms of B12 deficiency.
Pernicious anemia with its lack of intrinsic
factor, is now thought to be relatively rare.
Hypochlorhydria, less familiar than pernicious
anemia, is the condition of not enough gastric acid
to separate vitamin B12 from food. An estimated
47% of people in the U.S. have hypochlorhydria,
partially due to increased use of antacids marketed
as a good source of calcium.
Research shows that smoking, high alcohol consumption, and many prescription
drugs reduce B12, as do some common genetic polymorphisms (variations
occurring within a species) that affect enzyme activity.
So, it was learned that "functional deficiency," that is, a
deficient distribution of B12 at the cellular level, could come
about even though serum levels were normal.
Sadly, the American medical community sees fit to keep
the "normal" range extremely low, which fosters
confusion and mis-diagnosis.
More about Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency
Initial symptoms of B12 deficiency are easily overlooked. Plus, early symptoms of
anemia may be masked by folic acid, or by an iron deficiency. A variety of
neuropsychiatric symptoms may be the earliest and easily seen and felt symptoms.
The most common neurological symptoms in low vitamin B12 are paraesthesia
(numbness) of the hands and feet, diminished perception of vibration and position,
absence of reflexes, and unsteady gait and balance -- the range of symptoms is
broad.
Psychiatric symptoms seen in vitamin B12 deficiency are varied and fall into several
different categories:
Confusion and memory disturbances are the most common. Depression, with or
without psychotic components, and cognitive decline are frequent. Swings in mood
and personality changes from low B12, if untreated, may become a psychiatric
disease.
Such vague symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency are easily overlooked, especially
as the serum concentration of vitamin B12 often lies within the reference range.
(In the United States the low for the reference range is hundreds of points lower
than the more realistic low in Japan and Europe.)
Disorders in the gastrointestinal tract can give rise to a deficiency of vitamin B12,
with symptoms being more or less pronounced. Poor mucosal function may also be
a cause and may show up with glossitis (a swollen tongue).
The elderly are at great risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. Age-related, often
asymptomatic atrophic gastritis is common and may be enough to cause a patient to
slide slowly into a negative vitamin B12 balance with depleted stores of the vitamin
giving rise to dementia. (Because the low in the United States is so low, this slide
may go unnoticed for considerable periods of time.)
Infants of vegetarian/vegan mothers are in danger of vitamin B12 deficiency, even
though their mothers may not have B12 malabsorption illness and may not show
any deficiency symptoms. This is because of the relatively high need for B12 in a
rapidly growing child.
Finally, I repeat, if your fingernails have ridges or you are beginning to lose the
moons on your fingernails, please try Methylcobalamin and keep notes and see if
you begin to feel better with a reduction in symptoms you may have found worrying
and/or baffling. If you aren't going to go to your healthfood store soon, please order
Methylcobalamin on line.
Learning to recognize signs of low B12 in your
body is your BEST DEFENSE against the ravages
of B12 Malabsorption Illness.
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Although expensive tests are developed to
test for B12 deficiency, as for instance using a
determination of holotranscobalamin, the transport
protein with selectively bound active cobalamin . . .
Too little stomach acid and B12
remains trapped in protein.
When there is adequate
stomach acid vitamin B12
is released from protein.
You need intrinsic factor
before vitamin B12 can be
used by your body.
Methylcobalamin, the active form of vitamin B12 has been known to help:
ADHD symptoms
Memory
Anxiety
Chronic fatigue
Dyslexia
Depth Perception
Viewing Color
Speech (finding words, apraxia, articulation, etc)
Socialization
Mood
Behavior
Sleep Regulation
Depression
Neurotransmitter function
Autoimmune symptoms
Chemical Sensitivity
Digestion
Viral Infections
Inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, fibromyalgia
Asthma
Irritable bowel
Colitis
Eye or muscle "twittering"
Tinnitus
Nail bitting
Migraines
Visual and auditory processing
Modulation of light
Night vision
Improved ability to process sounds and modulate background noise
Nerve regeneration
Blocking the effects of ethanol
Greatly reduces the desire for alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamines, and
possibly other addictive drugs and behavior.
Neurological symptoms:
Numbness in hands and feet
Ataxia (irregularity of muscular action)
Impaired reflexes
Gait disturbances
Impaired vibration perception
Positive Romberg´s test:
.....closing the eyes increases unsteadiness;.indicates loss of proprioceptive
.....control (Proprioceptive: able to receive stimuli from muscles, etc.)
Babinski´s sign:
.....Extension of the great toe and abduction of the other toes instead of
.....normal reflex to plantar (sole of foot) stimulation,considered indicative of
.....pyramidal tract involvement (Pyramidal: anatomy: one of the carpal bones.)
Lhermitte´s sign:
.....Sudden electric-like shocks go down spine on flexing head
Optic atrophy:
.....wasting away or reduction from degeneration of nerve fibres of optic nerve
Chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia
Psychiatric symptoms:
Concentration difficulties
Confusion
Irritation
Impaired memory and memory loss
Dementia
Irritability
Depression
Personality changes
Psychosis:
.....gross impairment in reality testing
.....evidenced by delusions
Symptoms of anaemia:
Tiredness
Apathy
Dyspnoea upon exertion:
.....Shortness of breath,
.....difficult or laboured breathing.
Other symptoms
Aversion to meat
Impotence
Faecal/urinary incontinence
Infertility
Vitiligo:
.....nonpigmented white patches of skin
Diarrhea
Hair loss
Low B12 and deficiency may often be seen in:
Autoimmune diseases
Any person with:
inadequate nutrition
a smoking habit
high alcohol consumption
coping with significant stress
People complaining of:
Vertigo Asthenia
Loss of appetite
Loss of weight
Impaired memory
People who have had:
resection of stomach or ileum
stomach surgery
anaesthesia with nitrous oxide
adverse reactions to anaesthesia /surgery
People who use medicine affecting B12:
antacids: Prevacid, Prilosec, Tums, etc.
Omeprazole interferes w/B12 absorption from food
Metformin: drug used to treat diabetes
many antidepressants
Patients with Gastrointestinal disease:
Atrophy of the mucosa
Gluten-induced enteropathy
Crohn´s disease
Patients with Autoimmune diseases:
Diabetes
Rheumatoid arthritis
Hypothyroidism
Women:
following pregnancy complications
who produced an unusually large placenta
People with eating disorders:
Anorexia
Bulemia
People with marfanoid appearance
Vegans/vegetarians
Blog Discusses: the intimate link between
vitamin B12 and our nervous system.
I have always paid my web hosting first. It's $11.95 a month. Even when I was
living on $11 a week after my tenants burned out my boiler and I wasn't renting
my condo because I was worried there might be a second privy pit, I paid for web
hosting first because I know the information on my site can help people.
But only, of course, if they have problems which are related to low B12 and they
begin taking B12 (either injections or Methylcobalamin in the form of lozenges to
replace the B12 they are missing).
My links gave me hope that I would miraculously get some help... and once
someone bought a desk, and another time someone bought a table (that was almost
two weeks I was given!!!! out of over 200 weeks)... but mostly my links give me
hope rather than an income. And I need hope right now to get to February when I
can refinance. (8/7/07)
"Ask and you shall receive." So, please will you donate, or shop? To
understand why I'm asking please look at my TD Ameritrade page.
That was so sweet of the person who donated $5 when I was trying to get a
wood stove. It was much appreciated!
In 1997 the lines/ridges on my fingernails were the worst. I was unable to think;
things "looked" unclear; things seemed hopeless; I tried to kill myself, and I had such
horrible bone pain that it didn't seem like it would make any difference if I immolated
myself because of abuse by IRS. B12 changed all that!
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 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.
