How long does it take to recover from a B12 deficiancy?

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 🙂

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/

That is very helpful, thank you. Probably no point in doing more tests if I have to eat gluten. I almost feel like this came out of nowhere but I have went on GF diets throughout the years due to stomach issues. This has been off and on for almost twenty years so probably not a coincidence. I have my physical tomorrow with hopefully some follow up bloodwork. I'll report back later in the week. Thanks again!

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.

Hello everyone. I went to my physician yesterday and had the follow up bloodwork. My B12 is now at 1180 and I'm guessing this is from the injection and sublingual doses. It sounds like there will not be anymore injections from my physician since the levels are now up from 220 back in September. I also had a celiac panel come back negative, though my doctor mentioned it could still be false. He was very convinced I have turret's syndrome because of my internal tremor. I have to admit, this was not a welcome diagnosis. It's not that I don't believe him, my son has turret's, but I don't feel that explains this hellish 8 months I've had to deal with. However, the tests are not finding much. I've had everything up to the brain MRI and my neurologist put that on hold since I was doing so much better. I'm at a cross roads here I guess. I have no plans to reincorporate the gluten back into my diet. I know how my body feels when I eat it. I don't know what else I can do besides just try to carry on and at least now I know my B12 levels are back to normal. Thank you all for your support. This has probably been one of the hardest years health wise I've had to deal with. This message board was a life saver.