Thank you all for these comments of your experiences. My wife for the last month has had trouble with her mobilityagain, just when it seemed to be getting much better. Her tendon behind the right knee freezes, making it impossible to walk unaided. We've got a new wheelchair now after giving the old one away - we thought we wouldn't need it again. It's so encouraging to read your comments Rose, even if it takes two years to heal at least it is healing - my wife will be able to stand and walk down our hallway without bruising herself on doorframes, chair backs and cupboard corners at some point and it's great to know that.

Something to remember for all of us - people are saying they've been deficient for two years - I think you must remember this is a problem some people are born with. It takes vegans ( most of these will have the ability to absorb B12 ) twenty years to deplete their B12 enough to cause symptoms - so it makes sense that most B12 sufferers are 25 or older when their first serious symptoms start. If you think a normal B12 level is around 1500 + and most people who are receiving B12 have dropped below 200 - it's probably taken 20 years to get down to that level. Everyone will have different levels of malabsorption - meaning some people will take longer to get to these chronic low levels. In Japan - they treat anyone below 400 - 500 as defient.

(By the way, no offense to any vegans reading this ! It's just a fact that the highest levels of B12 are readily avaible in meat - if you don't eat it and haven't been told to take a supplement it will deplete).

I think it's really important to look back at early ailments for clues to this deficiency - before the level gets so low. For instance, as a child as young as 8 years old, my wife suffered lack of concentration, secret feelings of "not fitting in" and at the age of 15 became heavily anaemic and on/off depressed. It's worth ponting out, her Mum's B12 deficient aswell (diagnosed as Epileptic before discovering B12 deficient - B12 treatment has lessened the severity of her Epilepsy - go figure!!). I think she wouldn't have a great start in life if this is a familt trait - and if it's strongly genetically linked, surely the severity of the condition could get worse with each generation. With this in mind, my sons' B12 was taken and his level was 800 - at that time at school he'd been kept back in a catch up class but the teachers concerns led to him being referred to a Dyspraxia clinic ( another neurological condition!). We still haven't heard from the clinic - it's a lengthly process in Britain to go through the NHS - but our doctor suggested B12 sublingual at 500mcg per day. The argument is my wife was probably already chronic B12 when Daniel was growing inside her so he could have suffered development problems as a foetus - leading to a relatively low B12 and Dyspraxia. Taking the B12 has made a huge difference - his reading and writing came on leaps and bounds over a three month period - his teachers were amazed.

Any body else noticed the family links??