Rose, I thought you might enjoy hearing this.

My DIL is a first year medical student at Mayo and she emailed "Just had our first neuro exam class...The doc said that in cases of peripheral neuropathy they always check B12 first because it's "easy to test and fix."

Sounds promising. I asked her many other questions, as you might imagine. Did they mention methylmalonic acid or homocysteine? Oral vs. shots? Low normal values? etc, etc, etc.

She knows I've had a rough ride x3 family members, but she is being pretty understanding and going out of her way to try to personally right some of the wrongs. I told her I DON'T hold her responsible for other doctor's shortcomings. She's even found a doc who has celiac disease and plans to shadow, and of course, I had many other questions for her there, too , like I wonder how the doctor feels about gluten sensitivity w/o celiac disease. She is working hard to be really open to everything I say, and one day I'll have to let her know that I really appreciate that. I think she was slightly aghast that anyone would have a negative view of 'some' medical professionals. She grew up as a doctor's child. Course, so did my husband, and he got over it...lol. I'm being silly now!

BTW... have you seen that Nature Made is now marketing vitamins to specific medications that are known to deplete nutrients... such as Metformin and B vitamins?
http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...id=prod3475068

Scan down and read the description. I'm not sure the formulation is anything to write home about, and it is probably over priced... but hey.... doctors watch TV.. so this might be a good thing! My dad was visiting when I saw a commerical on TV that said "Metformin" and "B12" in the same sentence. I thought I was dreaming. I told him "see... they are even saying so on TV". He has multiple risk factors. He is 80 years old, takes metformin, has autoimmune thyroid disease and insulin dependent diabetes, has a daughter with confirmed B12 deficiency, etc. He called me yesterday to say he picked some up and is going to take my advice. I would have never guessed. He just laughs at me when I try to tell him in earnest of my "bad brain" because of B12 deficiency. Perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about him, as he can still add numbers in his head and keep track of all cards played during a card game. He dose have some balance problems, and I've noticed some stuttering in his speech, and he sleeps way too much. Of course, I will get him some 'good stuff' for Christmas. I think my sister, the nurse, must have backed me up. He takes her word on medical things.

Cara