Originally Posted by rose

From my site:



From the history you copied to your site:



Karen Wrote:




Karen,

The writing you have copied to your site states clearly that the belief was that anemia always occurred when B12 deficiency was present.



I did not say it was the only cause of B12 malabsorption or B12 deficiency. True pernicious anemia is lack of intrinsic factor (not an anemia as was thought in the 18th century).

Also copied to your site:



In the section of my site you quote, I am addressing "pernicious anemia" and making the same point as above.

The reason I have spent so much time and energy addressing the problem is that many medical reference materials (thus most doctors) still believe that anemia must be present if a patient is B12 deficient. This is terribly dangerous, because many of us do not have large cells when deficient.

The large cells are not the problem. The large cells are the way most people become diagnosed and get treatment.

Those who do not have large cells are at terrible risk of not being diagnosed and treated.

Iron deficiency is common in people who malabsorb B12, and iron deficiency can make cells smaller. When the two exist together, cells can be normal sized or even small.

Folic acid can normalize the size of cells, and thus the sign a doctor might recognize is not present, but the B12 deficiency still is, and the damage continues.

If you had any understanding of the B12 issue you would know this and more.


Karen:


Here is just one very good source, Karen:

Goldman: Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 22nd ed., page 1056

"Several clinical studies document that a normal hematocrit and/or mean cell volume occur in at least 25 to 50% of patients whose neuropsychiatric abnormalities are caused by cobalamin deficiency and respond partially or completely to cobalamin therapy."

rose