I have just been diagnosed B12 deficient
 

I do not know my number yet. I did not think to ask the drs office when they called. B12 shots start today, every day. Since I am a meat eater, I am assuming malabsorption. I am trying to get a hold of the drs office to get a celiac test done. How else to they find out the root cause of B12 deficiency?

Well, when I was found B12 deficient, neither the neurologist or my PCP seemed to care WHY :(. I think my PCP's response when I asked her was "some people are just low."

There are so many potential causes for B12 deficiency. I think it is important to find out, because there may be an underlying condition that needs treating, such as celiac disease or h. plyori infection.

The most common cause of B12 deficiency is pernicious anemia (another autoimmune disease where one lacks the intrinsic factor needed to process B12), and the antibodies they can test for that are below, but they say up to 25% with pernicious anemia won't show these antibodies.
intrinsic factor antibody
parietal cell antibody

Celiac Disease is another cause, and the full panel of tests include:
antigliadin IgA, IgG
anti-tTG
anti-endomysial
anti-reticulin
total IgA

H. Pylori infection is associated with B12 deficiency.

Gastric bypass.

Long term use of acid blockers.

There are many more.

If you check out the B12 deficiency page in The Gluten File you will find a couple good articles available online which cover the wide range of possibilities.

I hope you start to feel better soon. Many people do just fine with oral supplementation of B12, so you may want to talk to your doctor about switching to oral B12 for maintenance...many are unaware that oral dosing has been found effective. There is more on that in The Gluten File, too.

Cara

Any idea the gene associated with PA? I have looked over your file and many more. I am hoping I can at least get a celiac test out of it. I need to research H. Pylori again. My grandmother has/d that.

H. Plyori often goes hand in hand with Celiac Disease, too, so often there can be a few things that need correcting...sometimes it is a long process of fixing one thing, then another, then another. You can have Celiac Antibodies and Pernicious anemia antibodies (I had neither, but have improved gluten free).

Genes with pernicious anemia?? Check out these articles. Some mention PA, some mention celiac disease, and several other autoimmune disorders....linked together as 'syndromes'.





Cara

I've never heard of this book until today, where I just found it referenced on the Nutritional Healing site.

Trace Your Genes to Health: Use Your Family Tree to Guide Your Diet, Enhance Your Immune System and Overcome Chronic Disease, 2002 by Dr. Chris Reading

Has anyone heard of or better yet, read, this book?

Cara

I didn't check all the information you've been given thus far...

I have B12 deficiencies too, along with other B vitamins, etc. Here is some information that I've found or have been given:

http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocente...ns/vitaminB12/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002403.htm

http://www.e-mds.com/icd9_Search

http://www.labtestsonline.org/unders...itaminb12.html

I take B12 shots twice a month. They have helped and I notice the difference the weeks I don't have the shots. Hopes this helps.

Even if you are getting shots of B12 you may want to take pills too. That may keep your B12 at a more constant level. Many of us take at least 1000mcg of methylcobalamin every day.

There is evidence that oral B12 does as well as injections and is certainly less expensive. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20060101/cochrane.html#c2

In Sweden high dose oral B12 is used more often than injections. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Anne

Me! Me! Our library has it and I read it on recommendation of a friend. I enjoyed it, but it's not one I'd buy to reference it. I don't think you'd be surprised by much (anything?) in it.

Basically, he recommends tracing your family tree and listing any health issues for each person (allergies, anemia, cancer, cause of death, etc.). Also any distinguishing characteristics (sometimes the receding hairline gene goes along with the allergy to XYZ, so if your dad didn't have the receding hairline, then he AND you won't have the allergy). People have come him not feeling well after having been to many doctors and using this type of family tree, he's diagnosed various allergies (lots of grain allergies and dairy allergies, but eggs and others, too). He also talked about certain diseases going together. I remember the section on Alzheimers and Down's syndrome, and the woman in my church with Alzheimers and her son with Downs. Can't remember all of them.

He also talked about genes, dominant, recessive, X-related, etc. If you're wondering... the *only* "disease" associated with the Y chromosome is hairy ears. Mr. Kay's dad has hairy ears, so Mr. Kay and Tom are DOOMED!:p

You already know the amazing changes that can occur by going GF. The same applies if you have allergies or intolerances to other foods and get those out of your diet. So, it was enjoyable, but it didn't strike me as one I'd refer to again. I can always go back to the library for it.