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Vitamin B12 and folic acid are both essential water-soluble B vitamins that your body needs to prevent anemia, provide energy and support the nervous system. For maximum benefits, it’s important to maintain a healthy balance of vitamin B12 and folic acid.

Vitamin B12 and folic acid anemia

Vitamin B12 and folic acid work together to regulate production of healthy red blood cells needed to spread oxygen throughout your body. When vitamin B12 and folic acid levels fall, you may notice symptoms of anemia indicating a need for more oxygen and B vitamins.

Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency and low folic acid include:

• Constant fatigue
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Memory loss
• Dizziness
• Confusion
• Painful numbness and tingling in the extremities
• Muscle spasms
• Vision problems

Isolated vitamin B12 deficiency

It’s important not to overdo it with folic acid supplements.

• If you were to develop a vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious anemia), then it may not appear on a blood test when folic acid levels are high, as red blood cell production will appear normal.
• Nerve damage from vitamin B12 deficiency can continue, even with normal levels of folic acid.
• There is a belief among scientists that overconsumption of folic acid may worsen attention and memory disorders that occur with vitamin B12 deficiency.
• Long term, pernicious anemia can result in severe handicaps caused by irreversible nerve damage.

If you are at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency, then it’s important to have your B12 levels and folic acid levels checked regularly.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency- How Long does it Take?

Risk factors for pernicious anemia are:

• Family history for pernicious anemia
• Autoimmune disorders
• Old age
• Vegan dieting
• Gastritis
• Bariatric surgery
• Ilium removal
• Medications for acid reflux or diabetes

Treatment

The only way to treat vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency is to replenish your levels of these important B vitamins until your achieve a normal amount. You may be required to continue taking vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements in order to prevent developing anemia again.

In addition to taking vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements, try to include more foods containing B vitamins in your diet, such as beef, fish, poultry, milk, eggs, and grain products fortified with folic acid.

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Why do Diabetics get Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

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Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12- Health Professional Fact Sheet

Anaemia, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency

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There are many reasons for back pain, and they’re not always easy to detect. Extreme back pain in the upper, middle, or lower back may be caused by arthritis or degenerative disc disease, but it can also be something much simpler that you’ve been overlooking.

1- Vitamin B12 Deficiency

In a European study that focused on the use of vitamin B12 supplements for people suffering from lower back pain, researchers noted surprisingly good results in test subjects who received regular doses of vitamin B12, compared to a placebo medication for back pain.

Vitamin B12 is crucial for healthy nerve cells and production of red blood cells for oxygen, in addition to regulating metabolism, boosting energy, and preserving cognitive functioning needed for good memory and delaying symptoms of dementia caused by old age.

Besides back pain, other symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency may include:

• Tiredness
• Memory loss
• Painful numbness and tingling in the extremities
• Headaches
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Gait problems

2- Constipation

Believe it or not, lower back pain may be caused by gastrointestinal problems like constipation or diarrhea.  Sometimes, a blockage in your intestines puts pressure on your back, leading to severe back pain and stomach pain.  To treat naturally, incorporate more healthy fiber into your diet, or ask your pharmacist for gentle digestive aids that balance your intestinal flora.

3- Your shoes

A common and preventable source of back pain is simple footwear. Ill-fitting shoes and high heels disturb your posture, interfering with the natural curve of your spine, leading to back pain and an increased risk for spinal injury.

To check if your shoes are causing your back pain, visit an orthopedist.

4- Your bed

If you still think that sleeping on a stiff mattress is the best cure for back pain, then it’s time to shop for a new bed.  Chronic pain specialists recommend getting a lumbar mattress that provides support while also cushioning your tired muscles and joints for optimal relief from back pain.

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Sources:

Vitamin B12 in low back pain: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

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Recently, scientists discovered that fibromyalgia chronic pain symptoms stem from having too many nerve fibers. (See Finally, Proof that Fibromyalgia Isn’t Imaginary.) If you suspect you have fibromyalgia, or comorbid symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency, then it’s important to ask the right questions from your doctor to get a proper diagnosis.

First, visit your GP

Fibromyalgia is still considered a pseudo-illness by many doctors, so you may have to network to find a true advocate. Start with your family doctor, and come prepared with a list of symptoms that concern you. Many of the symptoms of fibromyalgia also occur with vitamin B12 deficiency, a condition which patients of fibromyalgia are at risk for, so you should also request a blood test to check vitamin B12 levels.

Symptoms of fibromyalgia include:

• Extreme pain in specific zones around your body (tender points)
• Sore joints and muscles
• Headache
• Extreme fatigue
• Brain fog
• Dizziness
• Frequent illness
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Hypersensitivity to hot and cold temperatures
• Skin rashes, itchiness

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

Find a specialist

If your general practitioner is unable to help, then it may be time to get cracking and find somebody who specializes in treating fibromyalgia. Ask your doctor’s nurse, post on Facebook pages for fibromyalgia, or do a Google search for physicians in your area who specialize in chronic pain.

For your initial visit, bring along a list of questions to help you determine if you’ve found the right match. A good doctor should listen attentively to your symptoms and be up to date with the latest research surrounding fibromyalgia.

Questions to ask include:

• What causes fibromyalgia?
• How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?
• What is your experience in treating patients with fibromyalgia?
• What comorbid conditions occur with fibromyalgia?
• Is vitamin B12 deficiency a problem with fibromyalgia? Should I check my vitamin B12 levels?
• What medications will you prescribe if I’m diagnosed?
• Do you endorse any natural supplements or alternative therapies to help reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia?

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Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Fibromyalgia Pain Types

Choosing Pain-Free Clothes with Fibromyalgia

For decades, fibromyalgia patients suffered in silence as doctor after doctor pronounced “phantom pain” symptoms as purely a figment of the imagination. Now, scientists have uncovered the truth behind fibromyalgia chronic pain syndrome, and as it happens, it has nothing to do with your mental outlook, or your brain. Here are the details of this latest medical breakthrough.

Fibromyalgia stigma

We’ve always known that certain “tender points” on the body that overreact to pain stimuli label you as having fibromyalgia; until recently, doctors have failed to come up for any explanation for excruciating pain and fatigue that stem from no apparent source, no visible injury. But thanks to a recent discovery, scientists understand that fibromyalgia symptoms are caused by having too many blood vessels in your hands.

For millions of Americans, this could mean the end to fibromyalgia stigma, and the beginning of a new era in which fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are labeled as medical illnesses, and not as medical science-fiction.

Vitamin B12 for Fibromyalgia- Food Sources!

A new era for fibro patients

It started with a patient who had what could be called the opposite of fibromyalgia, a decreased ability to experience pain, due to a lack in sensory nerve fibers. Researchers compared skin biopsies with patients suffering from chronic pain, and noted that all the fibromyalgia patients’ skin samples showed significantly more nerve fibers than normal, compared to people who don’t have symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Scientists at Integrated Tissue Dynamics LLC hope to use their findings to produce a fibromyalgia cure, by learning more about arteriole-venule (AV) shunt nerve fibers in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Fibromyalgia Pain Types

Neuroscientist Dr. Frank L. Rice, author of the study, described how they came to the conclusion that will ultimately disprove fibromyalgia as a mental condition. “We previously thought that these nerve endings were only involved in regulating blood flow at a subconscious level, yet here we had evidences that the blood vessel endings could also contribute to our conscious sense of touch… and also pain,” Rice said.

“This mismanaged blood flow could be the source of muscular pain and achiness, and the sense of fatigue which are thought to be due to a build-up of lactic acid and low levels of inflammation fibromyalgia patients. This, in turn, could contribute to the hyperactivity in the brain.”

Fibromyalgia symptoms include an overreaction to pain, suffering that is disproportionate to the cause. Scratchy clothing, a morning breeze, or a hot shower can cause immense suffering. Aching joints, sore muscles and constant headaches combine with extreme fatigue to make life unbearable.

Fibromyalgia treatments

For now, fibromyalgia treatments include strong painkillers, anti-epileptic drugs, and antidepressants.

Natural treatments for fibromyalgia include relaxation techniques, light daily exercise, and acupuncture.

It’s noted that many fibromyalgia patients also suffer from comorbid vitamin B12 deficiency. For that reason, supplementing with extra doses of vitamin B12 is highly recommended.

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Sources:

Fibromyalgia Mystery Finally Solved!

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If you’re an adult diabetic, then you’re in a higher risk category for vitamin B12 deficiency than people who don’t struggle with diabetes. Health experts agree that diabetics using a certain medication for type-2 diabetes must check their vitamin B12 levels regularly, in order to prevent debilitating symptoms of pernicious anemia that often mimic those already experienced by diabetics.

It’s been published in countless medical journals, but many people who have diabetes are still unaware that they can potentially become severely anemic, and not because of their health condition…but because of medications they are taking to improve their health.

Pernicious anemia

Pernicious anemia, which results from long-time vitamin B12 deficiency, can cripple the nervous system and cause a breakdown in cognitive functioning. Fewer red blood cells results in less oxygen in the brain and other parts of your body. Over time, it can also increase your risk for heart attack and stroke, through increasing homocysteine levels.

Most people are able to avoid it just by eating foods that are rich in vitamin B12, such as beef, seafood, chicken, and dairy products. But for many people- about 30% of all US citizens– vitamin B12 levels continue to deplete, despite diet.

That’s because there are several factors outside diet that raise your risk for developing vitamin B12 deficiency.

I Eat Healthy…So How did I Get Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

For diabetics, the cause of pernicious anemia is metformin, an oral anti-hyperglycemic drug that is used to control type-2 diabetes.

FDA warnings

“In controlled clinical trials of Metformin of 29 weeks duration, a decrease to subnormal levels of previously normal serum Vitamin B12 levels, without clinical manifestations, was observed in approximately 7% of patients.”

In many studies focusing on metformin usage and vitamin B12 levels, scientists found that metformin hydrochloride tablets interfere with “B12 absorption from the B12-intrinsic factor complex,” but that symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency were “rapidly reversible with discontinuation of Metformin hydrochloride tablets or Vitamin B12 supplementation.”

Prevention

Regardless of how well you manage your diet, you may still become deficient in crucial vitamin B12 nutrients, because you aren’t able to break down vitamin B12 from food and absorb it into your system.

That means that even tablets containing vitamin B12 will be of little use, as they must be absorbed through a digestive system that is unable to use B12 efficiently.

To prevent vitamin B12 deficiency anemia with diabetes, it is essential to use non-dietary forms of vitamin B12 that bypass the need for gastrointestinal digestion.

These include vitamin B12 injections, which require prescription, and non-prescription vitamin B12 supplements that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream without requiring injection.

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Vitamin B12 deficiency is on the rise in the US and many other developed countries. Why? Because modern dietary restrictions, bariatric surgery, and autoimmune disorders  increase your chances of developing  vitamin B12 deficiency anemia before you reach your senior years.

Where’s the B12?

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble nutrient that only exists in animal-based foods such as meat, poultry, fish, milk, and eggs. The richest sources of vitamin B12 are shellfish and organ meats.

Unlike other vitamins, B12 requires a cofactor for absorption; digestive enzymes that help your body break down and utilize the benefits of the vitamin. Without intrinsic factor or stomach acids, you cannot process the vitamin B12 you ingest from the foods you eat.

Pernicious anemia

Without vitamin B12, your body can’t function properly. Vitamin B12 is crucial for building healthy red blood cells containing hemoglobin, which move oxygen to your brain, muscles, and organs.

Untreated, you may develop pernicious anemia, which causes symptoms such as extreme fatigue, depression, memory loss, disorientation, and painful numbness and tingling in the extremities. Pernicious anemia can result from autoimmune disorders, or it can be caused by gastritis, damage to the stomach cells.

Vitamin B12 is also important for protecting the nervous system, boosting energy, sustaining a speedy metabolism, and delaying the effects of age-related dementia.

Shocking Must-See Video on Vitamin B12 Deficiency Crisis

How long does it take to become deficient?

Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms can creep up slowly, as your vitamin B12 levels decline over the course of years.

Vegans and vegetarians

Among young healthy individuals, vegans and vegetarians are the highest risk categories for vitamin B12 deficiency. Usually, after about two years of strict vegan dieting, vitamin B12 levels will begin to decline. For vegetarians that number may be larger, as cheese and eggs have small amounts of vitamin B12, although not enough to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency.

Age

Most people start noticing the first signs of vitamin B12 deficiency around their 40s. This is because as you age, your ability to digest vitamin B12 from food sources declines, as your body begins to slow down in producing stomach acids. By the time you reach middle age, you should receive regular blood test screenings for vitamin B12 deficiency.

By the time you reach the age of 60, you should be extra vigilant in monitoring your vitamin B12 levels, as vitamin B12 deficiency may increase your chances of experiencing signs of Alzheimer’s disease dementia earlier than senior citizens who supplement with vitamin B12. Also read Vitamin B12, a Must for Senior Citizens

Autoimmune disorders

If you have autoimmune disorders, then you should get your vitamin B12 levels checked routinely, as your risk for developing autoimmune pernicious anemia is that much higher. Also, many of the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can mimic those of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, celiac disease, and other autoimmune system disorders. So, to catch vitamin B12 deficiency early and prevent neurological ailments, it’s important to take regular blood screenings for vitamin B12 deficiency.

Medications

Certain medications interfere with your ability to absorb vitamin B12; these include metformin for diabetes, protein pump inhibitors (PPIs) for GERD or heartburn, and various other popular prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

If you take any of the 25 Medications that Cause Vitamin B12 Deficiency for longer than 12 months, then you may need to take large doses of vitamin B12 regularly to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency.

Gastrointestinal surgery

Modern gastro surgeries that were previously unheard of have contributed to the rising rate of vitamin B12 deficiency. Patients of weight-loss surgeries (gastric bypass) and ilium removal or resectioning for Crohn’s disease are required to supplement with non-dietary vitamin B12 for life.

Your turn!

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If you’ve been feeling tired and mental unfocused lately, you may just need to give your metabolism a boost with some extra vitamin B12. Difficulty losing weight, brain fog, and extreme fatigue are all signs of a sluggish metabolism that can be helped by replenishing your body’s healthy stores of vitamin B12.

Why B12?

Vitamin B12 is one of the most essential nutrients for allover health; it helps to boost energy, promote cellular activity, protect the nervous system, and delay many of the effects of aging.

For metabolism, vitamin B12 helps by enhancing cell growth, enabling your body to build DNA more efficiently, in addition to sustaining red blood cell production needed for oxygen.

Hypothyroidism and vitamin B12

If you suffer from slow metabolism due to hypothyroidism, then you may be more prone to vitamin B12 deficiency than people without thyroid disorders.

And the symptoms of hypothyroidism- chronic fatigue, brain fog, and slow metabolism- actually mimic typical signs of vitamin B12 deficiency, making it all that much harder to diagnose vitamin B12 deficiency in people with underactive thyroids.

Read more about vitamin B12 deficiency and hypothyroidism.

How much vitamin B12 do I need?

The standard dose is 1,000mcg of vitamin B12, to be taken as advised by your physician, or as needed.

Vitamin B12 is safe to take in any amount, and many studies confirm the healthy benefits of taking mega-doses for energy, good mood, and fit thinking skills.

If your vitamin B12 levels are very low, then you may need to take weekly supplements for a while, and then continue with monthly doses of vitamin B12.

Read more about vitamin B12 dosage.

Boost your metabolism with these tips.

In addition to taking vitamin B12 for energy and maintaining a healthy weight, you should also follow these simple guidelines for metabolic integrity:

• Eat a healthy balanced breakfast every day, in order to prevent going into metabolic starvation mode.
• Eat small regular meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism running smoothly.
• Exercise every day for at least thirty minutes, and you’ll be rewarded with hours of increased energy for the rest of that day.
• Drink cold water throughout the day, not just to prevent fatigue from dehydration, but also because ice water increases energy and promotes a healthy metabolic rate.

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Will Vitamin B12 Boost Energy if I don’t have B12 Deficiency? YES!

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Nobody loves getting injections, but if you need regular vitamin B12 supplements, then you’re all too familiar with vitamin B12 injection pain. The dull throbbing and soreness, side effects of prescribed intramuscular (IM) injections can last forever, even if you self-inject vitamin B12 in the comfort of your own home. Listed are some helpful tips for reducing localized muscular pain and irritation caused by vitamin B12 injections.

If you have vitamin B12 deficiency from pernicious anemia or as a result of bariatric surgery, then you must supplement with vitamin B12 regularly in order to prevent debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, depression, muscle pain, memory loss, and other signs of cognitive and neurological breakdown.

Vitamin B12 injections are not for the faint of heart, though, as they must be inserted in thick, deep muscular tissue in order to work.

1- Ice the injection site

Before injecting with vitamin B12, apply ice to your thigh, hip, or groin- wherever you plan on inserting the needle. If the B12 shot is painful, then your muscles impulsively flex as a reaction to the needle’s insertion. By numbing the skin at the injection site first with ice or topical creams, then you reduce some the bruising and soreness that come with weekly or monthly vitamin B12 injections.

2- Vary the injection site

If you receive vitamin B12 injections often, then it’s important not to use the same location on the body as your injection site two times in a row. Alternate between right and left, and experiment with popular points for injecting vitamin B12, such as the thighs, buttocks, hips, abdomen, or upper arm.

Self-Injecting Vitamin B12 Shots- Best Body Parts

3- Relax

This may be a hard pill to swallow, especially if you’re usually nervous about sharp needles, but it really does help to sit in a comfortable position before submitting to a vitamin B12 shot, and force your muscles to relax as the needle goes in and the thick fluid enters your muscular tissue.

4- Ask for help

It’s okay to pass the needle to somebody else, even if you’ve opted for vitamin B12 self-injections. Ask a close friend, companion, spouse, or relative to learn how to administer vitamin B12 shots, or at least hold a mirror for you while you give yourself the injection, and rub out the pain afterwards to prevent bruising and other painful side effects.

5- Distraction helps

If your child requires vitamin B12 injections on a regular basis, then keeping her mind occupied on something else for just a few seconds can help to reduce the fear and the pain. According to a study on injection pain in children, putting on some music, handing her a toy, or telling a story are proven methods for enhancing injection pain relief.

Preparing your Children for Shots- 6 Tips to Ease the Pain

6- Talk to your doctor

If the vitamin B12 injection site hurts for more than a few days, then visit your doctor. Warning signs of intramuscular injection damage include redness, increased swelling, fever, and warmth of the skin at the injection site.

Self-Injecting Vitamin B12 Shots- 12 Tips and Warnings

7- Consider alternatives

If you can’t hack the pain, then know that there are alternatives to vitamin B12 shots.

Some vitamin manufacturers offer gentle, non-dietary forms of vitamin B12 that don’t require injection with sharp needles, yet contain the same 1,000mcg dose of essential vitamin B12 nutrients.

Alternative vitamin B12 supplementation is also a healthy, safe way to boost energy levels between vitamin B12 injections, when your doctor doesn’t prescribe enough vitamin B12 to alleviate symptoms of chronic fatigue, brain fog, painful numbness and tingling, and memory problems.

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Vitamin B12 Shots- Side Effects

Itchy Skin Patches from Vitamin B12 Shots

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Vitamin B12 Injections Side Effects

Tips to ease injection site soreness

A Guide to Post-Injection Muscular Pain

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As a senior citizen, you require more vitamin B12 than you used to. Changes in diet, metabolism, and vitamin absorption create the need for more vitamin B12 to boost natural energy while also preventing symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency anemia which are often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease dementia. In order to prevent fatigue, memory loss, and joint pain that comes with aging, senior citizens are urged to include extra vitamin B12 in their daily regimen.

Related: Vitamin B12- a Penny a Day Keeps Dementia Away

Vitamin B12 is found in many animal-based foods, including beef, seafood, poultry, dairy, and egg products. Most people who consume plenty of meat and fish products are able to maintain healthy vitamin B12 levels, but only until they reach their 50s and 60s.

Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that is crucial for brain health, yet most senior citizens don’t get enough of it.

It’s ironic that at the time when it’s most needed, when symptoms of dementia begin to surface, vitamin B12 supplementation is wildly under-prescribed.

Many doctors erroneously believe that symptoms such as slow thinking, memory problems, confusion, and dizziness are just natural elements of aging, and don’t bother to check for vitamin B12 deficiency, which can produce the exact same symptoms as Alzheimer’s disease dementia.

Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include:

• Depression
• Fatigue
• Anxiety
• Paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Dizziness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Painful numbness and tingling
• Muscle pain and spasms
• Decreased control of arm and leg movements
• Difficulty sitting upright
• Poor balance
• Chronic pain from osteoporosis
• Increased risk for heart attacks and stroke

Here’s Your Brain on B12 Deficiency- Memory Loss and Aging

Vitamin B12 deficiency in seniors

As you age, your ability to digest vitamin B12 from food sources decreases. This happens for several reasons; for one, seniors produce fewer stomach acids than younger individuals, making it harder for your body to break down essential vitamin B12 molecules and separate them from their proteins.

Also, some medications can lead to vitamin B12 malabsorption. Acid reflux drugs, such as protein pump inhibitors (PPIs), in addition to diabetes medications, and pain relievers can, over time, increase your chances for developing vitamin B12 deficiency anemia.

Additionally, as your appetite decreases with age, so does your consumption of essential nutrients, including meaty sources of vitamin B12, thus escalating your risk for vitamin B12 deficiency.

To prevent vitamin B12 deficiency in old age, doctors recommend taking at least 1,000mcg of vitamin B12 supplementations, or more, as needed to replenish vitamin B12 levels and restore energy and mental focus.

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Many people who are diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency are surprised to learn that their vitamin B12 levels have been plummeting for years, despite exercising and following a healthy low-fat diet. Here are some risk factors for vitamin B12 deficiency, and warning symptoms that many doctors overlook.

Nearly half of the American population has some form of vitamin B12 deficiency, and most don’t even realize it…

Only after you go to the doctor for symptoms of tiredness, depression, memory loss, or painful numbness, and are told after taking a blood test that your vitamin B12 levels have been dropping steadily for several years does B12 deficiency finally come under the radar.

Also read: Is Vitamin B12 Deficiency a Crisis?

Why does vitamin B12 deficiency happen?

There are many risk factors for vitamin B12 deficiency, but for the most part, they can be broken down by 1) diet, and 2) vitamin B12 malabsorption.

Vitamin B12 deficiency from diet

Two out of three people diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency aren’t getting enough in their diets.

Vitamin B12 occurs naturally in animal-based foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products. As a result of low-fat and vegan dieting, many of the foods that are highest in vitamin B12 have all but disappeared from the average American diet.

How often do you consume the following B12-rich foods?

• Clams
• Oysters
• Crab
• Halibut
• Organ meats (liver, heart, kidneys)
• Lean beef

If you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet…

If you have been advised to shun beef in favor of low-fat turkey and chicken (which have very small amounts of vitamin B12)…

Or if you consume mostly restaurant or processed foods, then you aren’t getting nearly enough vitamin B12 in your diet to prevent severe depletion by the time you reach your 30s and 40s.

Vitamin B12 malabsorption

Another third of people who suffer from severe vitamin B12 deficiency are unable to digest the nutrient efficiently from food sources.

So, even if you eat plenty of meat and fish- and even in you take regular vitamin B12 pills- you may still develop potentially life-threatening and debilitating vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms, if you fall into any of these qualifying risk factors:

• You are over the age of 50, so unable to produce enough stomach acids to break down vitamin B12
• You have a family history for pernicious anemia
• You have autoimmune disorders, including an intrinsic factor antibody that occurs with pernicious anemia, preventing you from absorbing vitamin B12
• You have had stomach or intestine surgeries, either for weight loss, treatment of ulcers, or Crohn’s disease
• You have some form of atrophic gastritis
• If you suffer from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, migraines, celiac, or other commonly comorbid conditions

What Causes Vitamin B12 Malabsorption?

Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency

Untreated, vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to severe nerve damage, increased risk for heart attack and stroke, bone loss, dementia, clinical depression, and rarely, death.

Here are some often overlooked signs that may indicate vitamin B12 deficiency:

• Depression
• Constant fatigue
• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Hallucinations
• Short-term memory loss
• Disorientation
• Brain fog
• Confusion
• Headache
• Tinnitus (ear ringing)
• Painful numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
• Muscle weakness and spasms
• Burning mouth syndrome
• Sore, red smooth tongue
• Difficulty controlling arm and leg movements
• Frequent falling and dropping things

Top Ten Signs of a Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Treatment

Doctors recommend at least 1,000-2,000 mcg doses of vitamin B12, taken as needed- once monthly or weekly, depending on the severity of symptoms.

Since vitamin B12 is a water-soluble nutrient, it is perfectly safe to take as much as you need in order to replenish vitamin B12 levels and alleviate symptoms that occur with vitamin B12 deficiency.

For optimum absorption and effectiveness, patients should use non-dietary vitamin B12 supplements that are secreted directly into the bloodstream, and do not require swallowing or digestion through the stomach.

Your turn!

Do you have any questions or suggestions?  Please leave your comments below.

Share with your friends!

If you found this article helpful, then please share with your friends, family, and coworkers by email, twitter, or Facebook.

Like this? Read more:

Shocking Must-See Video on Vitamin B12 Deficiency Crisis

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Sources:

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