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How long does it take to recover from a B12 deficiancy?
Autoimmune Diseases | Last Active: Apr 11 9:12am | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
Hi Donna. It has been a bumpy ride for me the past few months. While I seem to have recovered from my B12 deficiency symptoms, I'm not certain this is under control. I've been getting the injections monthly and taking 1,000mg of liquid B12 daily. I also gave up gluten in about 95% of my diet. A couple weeks ago, I had more foods with gluten thinking I could start to incorporate it back into my diet, but low and behold I started to feel TERRIBLE. I have all the symptoms of the deficiency again - tremors, memory problems, extreme fatigue, headache, nausea and the feeling that there is a hair wrapped around my thigh. It's so disheartening.
I'm scheduled for my annual physical this week as well as my monthly B12 injection. I'd like to ask my doctor to re-check my bloodwork. I want to see if I'm even absorbing this vitamin. The gluten really has seemed to put me in a tailspin since I had almost no symptoms for two months and was even back in the gym. Now I can barely walk around the block.
Everything I've had checked so far: full bloodwork panel from hospital, doctor and naturopath, abdominal CT, colonscopy, mamogram and papsmear (all in 2023/2024) and endoscope (2019)
I'm wondering if there is something else I should be asking for and if going a month in between injections is too long. I feel like I'm so close to being able to manage this condition but not quite there. Thanks and sorry for the extremely late reply 🙂
Replies to "Hi Donna. It has been a bumpy ride for me the past few months. While I..."
I had genetic testing for Celiac Disease and tested positive. It's responsible for autoimmune diseases and other things as well. I have been gluten and lactose free for years. It took a while before Celiac was discovered and I eliminated gluten.
@nicolez123
As donnasouthwick I have Pernicious Anemia, and additionally I have had several upper abdominal surgeries. I haven’t read anything that says Pernicious Anemia is hereditary. My mom's mom, my mom, and my sister were diagnosed with it too. My 3 brothers not. I take a daily multivitamin and my husband gives me the monthly b 12 injections. My b 12 is still in the low range, but higher since the injections. I don't know the number. You can ask your doctor for a prescription for the injection and have a nurse show you or a family member how to do the injection. My husband is diabetic and volunteered to give them. He said he would pretend I was a voodoo doll as he stabbed me with the needle. 😂 Sometimes humor helps .. sometimes not. Only once in 9 years has he ever needed to put a bandaid on the injection site. 👏
ZeeGee
Make sure your doctor also checks your calcium .. which when is too high can give you some of your symptoms. Another is Magnesium when too low. Next is the big Vitamin d (really a hormone) which helps the vitamins work. After my last upper open abdominal surgery my Vitamin d was 0 .. did not register. I had no real symptoms other than feeling unwell and achy. Doctor wanted me to take a high prescription dose of it. That made every being in me hurt. .. muscles, joints, brain. So I suggested I start off low and work my way up. That has worked. I think he is checking on it in July .. I'll write a note to him to make sure.
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Glad that you are doing better. Should you have celiac (one cause of anemia) you will need to be eating gluten for a celiac panel blood test. There is no good test for gluten intolerance, other than eating it makes one ill. BTW, once someone that is gluten intolerant goes off gluten they tend to become more sensitive to it. I've had celiac (HLA-DQ8 0302 gene) for 14 years, but normal tests. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11943958/ https://gluten.org/2019/10/17/celiac-disease-and-anemia/