jane,

Unfortunately, your doctor is wrong. A level of 296 is suboptimal, and many labs have even begun to footnote that levels under 400 should be further investigated particularly when neurological problems are evident.

I had symptoms on and off for 3-5 years before they began to cascade seriously and relentlessly during the last six months before finally getting a dx. My level at the end was 294 (150-1100), and thankfully I had a neurologist who realized that was too low. I've always wondered how high my B12 level was when I first began showing symptoms.

My symptoms did come and go in the early years, often felt like flares that would worsen for days/weeks at a time and then subside. But... at the end... new symptoms and more serious symptoms just kept adding on and they were with me daily. I started having the balance problems and those were sporadic, lasting days at a time, and then maybe a week or two before another spell.

Do yourself a favor and either find a new doctor or better yet, educate your current doctor with some of the articles posted in the second link. I have another (full text) I could send you if you pm me with your email addy. But, you can also fix yourself by taking 1000-2000mcg of oral B12 daily of methylcobalamin (cyanocobalamin works for most people, but methylcoblalamin is the active form and thought to work even better). My guess based on personal experience is that those symptoms would begin to resolve within 3-6 months time. I had improvement within 3 weeks, but it also took years to be symptom free.

You should pursue WHY you are iron and B12 deficient, and probably be tested for other nutritional deficiencies. That is why it is worth educating your current doctor or finding a new one that already knows. You might try a neurologist... it was the only specialist I saw who thought of B12 deficiency. Might also see a gastroenterologist for testing for celiac disease, but be sure to do your homework on that, too, because there are pitfalls in the diagnostic testing.

Here is my story of B12 deficiency:
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com...ciencysymptoms
and some info on diagnostics and dosing for B12 deficiency:
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/b12deficiency
And how I came to realize I had gluten sensitivity:
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/thestory

Have you ever been screened for celiac disease/gluten sensitivity? B12 deficiency and especially iron deficiency warrant that testing, unless some other cause for your deficiencies has been determined. Diagnostic info can be found in The Gluten File link... scan the right bar for topics.