Thank you so much to everyone, i had almost losed hope. Now i finally have a clue about where this symptoms can come from.
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Originally Posted by caroline2
Hard to say what is going on. You are pretty young and I'm pretty old. Back in the older days lab tests weren't even around too much I don't think.
Anyway, I have a good friend who deals with chronic fatigue for at least 15 yrs and her issues came on in her late 40's or so. I know she takes good dosing of Methyl B12 as do and I've been taking B12 for over 20 yrs given or take. My last lab had my level at 2000, doctor is ok with that. I don't know where a level needs to be for a 22 yr old person. Sorry I can't offer more. Maybe someone else here can offer info on this.
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Sorry to hear that about your friend. I had experienced continuous fatigue for a year and it has been really hard... can't imagine how is living with that for 15 years. My best wishes for her.
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Originally Posted by mrsD
Yes, it is possible that your low B12...is giving you symptoms.
Dr Snow is on that link Jo gave you, his paper from 1999 explains how some people have neurological symptoms in the low ranges of B12 testing.
The new low is 400pg/ml. The lab ranges have not changed at all since a decade has passed that 400pg/ml has been suggested to doctors. And they still cling to their old therapeutic manuals and are resistant to change.
Also people with the DNA mutation..MTHFR cannot methylate B12 properly to activate it to actually work in the body. A test of MMA will show this ... a low value result is good showing B12 is metabolizing MMA properly. A high value shows poor methylation and poor B12 actions.
Many people have this mutation, so it is worth getting. That is why the recommendation to use oral methylcobalamin now instead of cyano (which is not active). If you have this, and/or pernicious anemia, you need to start oral methyl B12 now.
If you are vegetarian and not eating animal sourced foods... also this leads to low B12 levels. Oral is adequate treatment, if you take enough, as B12 is not absorbed well. 5mg methylB12
on an EMPTY stomach once a day will raise you to about 1000.
After you replenish with 5mg you can drop to 1mg a day, but many of us here keep the 5mg. MethylB12 is not expensive and easy to do. You may have to keep taking it for life.
You can come to our PN forum and start reading that B12 thread, and ask your questions there.
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Really outstanding answer, and thanks Jo*mar too for the link. Can't comprehendend how my doc could had missed that, being or not this low levels the reason of my problems. He literally shaked my hand, said there wasn't anything physically wrong with me and said goodbye. He sended me to a psychiatrist, but I always knew this wasn't depression.
I'm not vegetarian, by the way. I eat a lot of meat/fish/eggs etc. It's normal for a young person like me to have low levels of B12 having a balanced diet, or I may have inherited my family deficiency?
I will try to find another doc speciallized in this area, and if he thinks that my b12 is normal too i will start to take oral b12 by myself as you suggested, and ill see how it goes.
Do you recommend some other blood tests to suggest the doc before starting treatment, or the MMA one is the only important one I should consider?
Again, thank you so much to everybody. You gave me such good news