Hi, and thanks for the site.

I'm a 58 year-old male, and have been healthy all my life except the last couple of years. It started with numbness on the bottom of my left foot, then I had blurred vision for a week or two at a time, then it would go away, light headedness, dizziness, brain fog, extreme fatigue, and I also got numbness in my right foot. In September 08, my doctor discovered I was B12 deficient, number was 234. He gave me 1000 mcg shots weekly for a month. He said it might help my foot numbness, and I wasn't expecting much, but within a day or two my vision cleared, my brain fog went away, and I felt like my old self. I spent countless hours reading about B12 deficiency, so I am pretty well up to speed on that.

After the shots were finished, I went on 5000 mcg B12 sublinguals. I felt great, and my feet did not change much, but month to month I did notice a very slight improvement. Then in early February my feet got a little worse, I had slight vision problems again, brain fog, and extreme fatigue. This lasted about 10 days then pretty much went away. I had an appt with a neurologist last October which I cancelled because I felt so much better, but I re-scheduled and saw him today.

He more or less poo-pooed the B12 problem, gave me a bunch of tests, and concluded that I should have a brain scan. He said there were 5-10 things that could explain my symptoms, but would not elaborate until the brain scan which should be within 2 weeks. Now I am pretty down in the dumps, worrying about what kind of uncurable, degenerative disease I might possibly have. I am an eternal pessimist and this will play on my mind constantly for the next 2 weeks, and I will assume the worst (in fact I already have).

Can anybody give me some encouraging words? Can this have a happy ending? Thanks!

Hi Bruce

welcome to neuro talk.

Sounds like you are having a stressfull time at the moment.
Drs sure don't know how much stress they put us under when they say things like, don't worry about it, we will wait until the tests come back. So what do we do...............go home and worry!! Yes I've been there done that.

I'm sorry I can't help with what the symptoms might be, but I can say I'm thinking of you. Here is a good place to talk and get support.
take care

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I don't know that I can say anything to allay your fears-sounds like it has to be a waiting game for now. But I will tell you this is a great place to hang out. There are lots of great people on this forum that will help you pass the time and take your mind off of things. Join in chat anytime when you see someone in the chat room, too. That is always helpful to spend some time in there.

Hi Bruce 01,
welcome to NeuroTalk!

Bruce!

Brucebrucebruce!

Pessimist? I'm allergic to those. So know this;

You are not alone
You are one of us
And we are here to help

Hi Bruce, and welcome to NeuroTalk! There are a lot of good forums here with very nice and helpful people.

I'm sorry you are having these problems. I know how frustrating and scary it can be waiting for results of tests and scans. Try to keep your mind on other things. It's hard, but it does help.

Hi Bruce:

I'll tell you what my husband always tells me "I refuse to worry about something until I have something to worry about".

SO I DO ALL THE WORRYING IN THIS HOUSE!!! lol

Take a deep breath, and keep taking the Methyl B-12 (you ARE taking the Methyl form of B-12, aren't you??) There's a BIG difference between cyanocobalimin and Methylcobalimin.

Let me know which one you are taking. I take the Methyl B-12 (5000) each and every morning sub lingually.

Melody

i was told to get a test of B 12 a year ago. all i was told was i have
ELEVATED B 12...my PCP has the results of my test and ive tried and tried to get that information to the neuro im seeing for parkinsons.
have you thought about having too much of that "balimin" ?

thanks
davos
dx PD 2000
b 1936

People with Neuropathy, nerve damage, numbness, etc. etc. well, they need what the Methylcobalimin gives their body. When you take 5000, your body only absorbs 10. I learned this from our esteemed Mrs. Doubtfire who is EXTREMELY knowledgable about such things.

My last b-12 was 2000. Since my doctor (who also happens to be a gym rat and a bodybuilder and KNOWS ALL ABOUT B-12), he is in complete agreement with my taking (and so does my husband).

If you see what they consider NORMAL, in the B-12 readouts, well, you begin to see that the expert version of what is NORMAL, does NOT apply to people with nerve damage.

I have spoken to physicians who told me "I would NEVER prescribe B-12 to anyone unless they had Pernicious Anemia".

Doctors don't know nutrition and absorbtion, doctors (except for my doctor), well they only know to prescribe medication.

Do on search on this forum and read all about Methylcobalimin. There are NO side effects. I've been taking it for over 2 years now.

I have energy, no brain fog, and my feet are 99% better. I only burn when the weather changes from warm to cold or from cold to warm, or if I am under extreme stress.

It's MAJOR IMPROVEMENT FROM TWO YEARS ago when I began to get the symptoms of neuropathy. The burning, the pins and needles, etc.

I knew IMMEDIATELY what I needed to take and it was like a miracle.

People with nerve damage don't benefit from cyanocobalimin. Actually, when you take cyanocobalim, your body converts it to Methylcobalimin.

So it makes perfect sense to take the straight Methyl b-12.

But don't expect your doctor to understand this, or agree with you.

They practice medicine, NOT NUTRITION.

Read up on it. Hopefully Mrs. Doubtfire will jump on this thread and explain it better than I can.

Melody

Thanks to all for the great replies!

And yes, Melody, I've been taking Jarrow methyl SL.