Hello Everyone,

I am a new girl here, please forgive me for posting my question first and introduce myself later. I am extremely nervous right now and need some answers to ease my mind for the time being!

How to put my problem in a nutshell...
I've had 3 hyperemesis gravidarum pregnancies when I tried to take my vitamin supplements but it made me feel sicker therefore I skipped them for the most part.
I've had my 3rd baby 5 months ago and this is when my problems all started. Started to have some weird bradycardiac episodes with high blood pressure, then months later arrtyhmias and skipped heartbeats. I've had heart echo and countless EKG-s, blood tests - everything always came back fine and every doctor told me it's probably stress related.
They REFUSE to connect my other problems to my weird heart problems and honestly I didn't know what to think either..
For also these past 5 months I started to develop other kind of problems as well...First I've had tingling hands and feet, also they felt as if they were falling asleep non-stop. Then I developed extreme fatigue and malaise which was not relieved by any rest. I started to have twitching muscles all over my body, sometimes non-stop. Along with it came lots of muscle and joint pain. Then my most bothersome symptom popped up - first on my knees and elbows..as if someone touched a hot pot to it, it was burning for a few seconds without any reason. By now (in the past 2 months) it developed to a constant sunburnt skin sensation totally all over my body (for the past few days even the inside of my nose, ears, mouth, and also my sculp.)

I've been to numerous doctors of course and noone could ever figure out what's wrong with me. All blood tests kept coming back normal. In the meantime I felt as if something's attacking my body and shutting it down and I'm just dieing and noone can figure out why. I became stressed and upset about it - which led the doctors to believe that I have postpartum depression and they wanted to treat me with anti-depressants no matter where I went.

Until someone told me about severe B12 deficiency. Suddenly it all made sense...all my symptoms fit into the big picture. I asked my family practicioner to draw blood to check my b12 levels, which she refused, saying that none of my symptoms match it and I am not anemic therefore I don't need it. She suggested it's all only stress.
I then turned to my rheumatologist who is in the process of diagnosing me with fibromyalgia (while ruling everything else out). He ALSO refused to test me for b12 deficiency - saying that it's awfully rare, my other blood test results don't support it and that he needs to rule out more common diseases first.

So here I am, noone wanting to check my b12 levels out. Thank God though, DirectLabs exists, so we ordered my tests through them and going to the lab tomorrow to draw my blood. It shall help to figure out what's going on...

My BIG question is related to my heart though. Can my heart problems be related to b12 deficiency as well? I think I've read somewhere that it can cause heart failure. Now I am freaking out. How long does b12 deficiency have to go on before it happens? Is heart disease reversible at all? I don't think I have advanced heart disease since my summer heart echo which was normal but my arrythmias since then became very frequent. Is my heart going to be OK with b12 supplements? I know it's a silly question which can't be answered - but I am worried about heart failure or heart attack due to this and I don't know how realistic it is.
I am taking b12 supplements orally but it's the synthetic b12 and I read today that it's not that good. We've just ordered the natural b12 sublingual supplement....

I guess any insight or encouragement would be more than welcome..I am really worried and scared and just hoping that I am not too late with treating my problems..

Thank you..

Mercyhill

hello Mercyhill,
I'm going to copy your post and place it on our New Members Forum also, where more will see it and maybe have some ideas about your other symptoms.

Here's the link to it -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum88.html

Thank you!!!

Hello Mercyhill!!

Welcome to Neurotalks.

Thank god you found someone to test your B-12 levels. When you get the results, GET A NEW PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN.

Any doctor who REFUSES to listen and take a B-12 level is in my opinion NOT THE DOCTOR WHO SHOULD BE TREATING YOU.

Shame on them.

Just my opinion.

Hi MercyHill!

A couple of questions. Do you have copies of the blood tests? Can you get them and post some of the results?

If not good for you for finding a way to test your blood yourself. I have done that int eh past through a company called mdprivatelabs and I go to a lab near me and they email me the results.

A couple of thoughts for you.

Yes get the B12 tested. Along with that you may also want to check folate too. They go hand in hand.

B12 is a large molecule and sometimes people have absorption issues. I had low B12 and along with that I had low iron and iron defiiency anemia can cause numbness tingling and heart palpitatins as well. So you might also want to have your total iron, total iron binding capacity and your ferritin levels checked. I have had to learn to read and interpet my iron numbers because I have iron deficiency anemia and actually educated my doc on it.

Another thought that I have is possibly a endocrine issue like thryoid can cause weird heart issues or even adrenal fatigue which some docs also do not believe in.

Here is a good chart on thryoid and adrenal fatigue symptoms.


http://www.drrind.com/scorecardmatrix.asp


Goos luck and let us know how the results turn out.

Thank you! I will try to find my lab results but so far everything was normal and even ideal (middle of range)- that includes detailed thyroid tests too. Also my hormone levels are ideal. I've not been tested for vitamin deficiencies yet so after the b12 and folic acid I'll get the rest done too. Yes I will get a new PCP, thank God we're moving out of state in a few weeks so I'll have a fresh start elsewhere - I will only take my DirectLabs test results with me instead of getting all my papers out from my current doctor, I don't trust her anymore, who knows if she put anything into my files about me being depressed or whatever (you just never know!!)
I will let you know how my b12 levels turn out, it might not be totally realistic since I am taking sublinguals (I tried to stop it for a couple of days but after hearing about possible heart failure and having my weird heart problems, I was afraid to..) I'm hoping that a few weeks of supplementing won't push my levels too high.

Thank you again!

issues can also reflect poor magnesium status.
I have a thread here on how to maintain healthy magnesium levels in the body.

And poor EFA status. EFAs may be very low after having a baby, or babies...in females. If you did not eat enough precursor oils,
like Flax, you cannot provide EPA and DHA to the growing fetus.
So then the fetus ROBS you.
Fish oil typically is used to treat some heart arrthymias.

B12 is certainly an issue. And the baby may be low if you were low during that last pregnancy. You should get tested.
I am very skeptical of any rheumatologist whol would not understand the concept of low B12 and Fibro. In fact there are studies all over showing LOW B12 exists in the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) of patients with Fibromyalgia.
You can do a keyword search and read them easily.

Low B12 is NOT rare. Obviously this doctor is very behind the times. In fact NIH suggests B12 supplements for all people in USA over 50! Carrying children to delivery, depletes the mother significantly, as well.

Well I've got my results back...I don't really know if it was worth it at all since I was taking so much b12 for the past weeks. It was above 2000...go figure. So I could have a deficiency previously but it's covered up now, or not at all and it's something else...too bad I didn't get the test done before taking supplements but between the kids and feeling so sick, I had no chance..

Hi,

B12, like many things, is very tricky. Did you happen to keep notes on the symptoms you were experiencing? It would be good to know if the tingling reduced at all after you were taking B12.

The B12 you had, was it shots? or was it sublinguals? or were you swallowing pills?

Here's the thing about your B12 level of 2000: that's B12 in your blood. Where we need B12 in our bodies is in all the tissue, and in the nerves. For instance in autopsies when people are very low on B12 their spinal cord can be in tatters, so to speak.

B12 is used up by stress and if we have absorption problems it's used up more quickly. But "quickly" can mean many years. So replacing it, in the deep tissue, takes years, too.

If you keep your blood levels up high, then your body will be able to replace the B12 where it's needed more deeply much more easily.

I've been having B12 replacement for a decade and while I constantly have improvement, I'm not entirely back to where I was. I think it's an attainable goal to look to being back where I was... if I don't die of old age first. lol


I used to think that B12 was highly related to heart problems, but when Tim Russert died I happened upon a picture of him that clearly showed his fingernails and he had great moons, so I don't think he was lacking in B12 at all.

Have you been in contact with any toxins that you know of? When I was living in hydrogen sulfide I was sure I had heart problems because my chest hurt so much and it was so hard to breathe, only really the problem was that the soft tissue in my chest was swollen from the h.s. At that time I had a prolapse which apparently was a result of the h.s., too, because when I wasn't living in the h.s. anymore it went away...

If you have little kids it's probably hard for you to rest, but rest can make a huge difference. I think it gives our bodies a chance to sort things out. Mostly, things are complicated and I think our bodies can handle even the most complicated stuff better than drugs, in many cases, if our bodies can just get the free time to work things out.

((((((((mercyhill))))))))))))

well I'm happy to hear you survived without the b12 for a few days. I wouldn't think stopping the b12 for a few days would kill you, unless you truly believed the b12 was keeping you alive.

I believe that with rest your body seems to sort stuff out. because I can truly relate to being stressed out and having all these sort of somatic symptoms that your doctor just brushes off as nothing. I even have to go through my dad who is a nurse, who basically brushes everything off as long as you got a pulse. and they think you're a hypochondriac or something.

all i got to say is you better be taking fish oil with heart troubles! -well hopefully at least.

I don't blame your GP for not testing for b12, most do not, and just check to see if you're iron deficient cause that is related to b12 deficiencies, at least that's what my doctor said. but as for your rheumatologist they should definitely send you for a b12 test, I haven't heard of a rheumatologist who didnt believe in that-like mRSD. I mean all the have to do is put a check mark next to check b12 levels, it's not like it costs extra!! That's what gets me with these hospitals/practicioners, you request a simple thing, and they nickel and dime ya.

wow heart echo? how'd u get that test? that's usually not the run of the mill test for heart troubles, usually ekg and blood test is what they go with.

I hope all is well or gets better!


as for considerthis:
you were living in hydrogen sulfide?? how do you live in it? -lol, sulfur is good for the skin.