no or low B12 and so sick
 

Hello and thank you all in advance for any help anyone can give. I have been sick for about two years and no one can seem to figure out why. Every time I eat I have diarrhea with in minutes of eating. I have had every test done that you can of they even sent me down to Boston to there big hospitals and still nothing. The only test that came back positive is the lactose intolerant test and at that time I cut all dairy out and still do and still can not eat. I also have low or no vit B12 and have been getting injections once a month and I feel good for four days then back to sick. At times when been tested my B12 is 0 ??? I want the shots every four days ..I feel like that is the only thing that would make me feel better. I have lost so much weight that now I am around 100 lbs and lose a few more every time I see my dr. This has also interfered in my marriage and I just keep getting sicker a weaker. Does any body have any ideas or could tell me why the b12 makes me feel better for about four days ??? Thanks everyone !!!!

Nailgurl ~

I don't have any idea about what's wrong with you, but I know that the topic of B-12 has come up a number of times, and there are people who comment on those threads that are incredibly knowledgeable about it - probably more knowledgeable than most doctors. Maybe it's under "pernicious anemia"?

It sounds like you need to do anything necessary to find out what's wrong. It sounds like you are very sick. Rather than larger hospitals, have you communicated with any major diagnostic centers, like the Mayo Clinic? They are pretty serious about finding the problem, and you don't need a referral or an appointment.

Good Luck :-). You have definitely come to the right place!!

Linn

I imagine--
 

--there may be a number of things going on with you that are resulting in low B12; it seems unlikely that it wold be directly traceable to something like pernicious anemia (actually, not an anemia at all, but a lack of intrinsic factor in the stomach to break B12 out of food).

B12 is the only B-vitamin stored in appreciable amounts in the body--in the liver, actually. If you're getting B12 shots and feeling good for only a very short time, you must have no appreciable stores, and your B12 deficient body must be sucking up what's given to you in shorts very rapidly.

Of course, severe B12 deficiency is very serious--it can affect every cell in the body. You need to get B12 regularly. Current medical literature indicates oral supplementation in large doses--1000mcg to 5000mcg/day (I'd go for the higher end initially)--is just as effective as shots, if not more so, and supplies a much more regular dose. And it is relatively cheap; many of use on-line sites such as iherb or vitacost or swanson vitamins to have it (and many other supplements) delivered. Try to get the methylcobalamin form, rather than the more common cyanocobalamin form; it has fewer metabolic hoops to jmp through to be usable.

Meantime, we do have a lot of B12 experience around here--I want to give you some links, first to the B12 thread at the peripheral neuropathy board:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread85103.html

Also, our own jccgltenfrees Gluten File material on B12:

http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/b12deficiency

Rose (who used to post here more often) has set up her own website about her battle with B12 deficiency:

http://roseannster.googlepages.com/

And Paul Golding has excellent info as well:

http://www.paulgolding.id.au/THE_B12...rayalHome.html

Thank you the advice I have been going to the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

thank you for your help...The doctors feel that I am not absorbing with food and vit..so I am not sure if taking it by mouth is even an aswer..but I will check ..now I am going to check out the links..thank-you