Welcome to the Vitamin B12 Patch blog! Find information on topics related to vitamin B12. This blog is dedicated to providing up to date research, news and resources pertaining to vitamin B12 supplements, symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency and general health information surrounding the benefits of vitamin B12. Learn from, and contribute to information on B12, conditions caused by vitamin B12 deficiency and other connected subjects. This blog also provides B12 Patch product information and discusses some of the science behind the transdermal absorption method. Feel free to participate in blog discussions and contribute your opinion on the related topics covered in the Vitamin B12 Patch blog.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is more than just simple exhaustion- it makes you feel sluggish, cranky, and confused, even if you’ve had plenty of sleep and have no reason to feel so tired. Chronic fatigue occurs with illnesses like vitamin B12 deficiency, fibromyalgia, and celiac disease. So, is chronic fatigue syndrome just a symptom telling you that something’s not right, or is it a separate disease of its own?
What is chronic fatigue syndrome?
To quote the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is “a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity.”
People with CFS wake up feeling tired, wiped out, as if they have just finished running in a marathon, even though they have not even gotten up from bed. Because CFS sometimes includes pain symptoms, people think it is similar to fibromyalgia. It’s not- Almost all people with fibromyalgia suffer from fatigue, but not all CFS sufferers experience chronic pain. (Read more about fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia- Is there a Difference?)
How is chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosed?
Determining CFS can be complicated, as there are currently no diagnostic tests available. Before a doctor can diagnose CFS, he has to use the process of elimination to exclude all other possible illnesses.
The patient must have been suffering from chronic fatigue for longer than six months, despite having normal sleeping habits.
The patient must not be suffering with any mental illness that has fatigue as a main symptom.
The patient must have at least four of the qualifying symptoms for chronic fatigue syndrome.
What are the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome?
People with chronic fatigue syndrome suffer from mental and physical pain that interfere with daily life. For some, CFS means losing the ability to care for oneself or dependents, not having the energy to do simple tasks, and facing skepticism from friends, family, and other acquaintances who think it’s all “in your head.”
The following symptoms enable a physician to give a proper diagnosis of CFS:
Short-term memory loss
Frequent sore throat
Muscular pain
Unusual headaches
Sore lymph nodes
Joint pain where no inflammation is evident
Fatigue that is not relieved by sleep
Severe exhaustion following even minimal physical activity, requiring a full day’s recuperation
Severe mental exhaustion following exams, or other mental exercises
Other symptoms that may occur with CFS but do not influence diagnoses include:
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Brain fog (confusion)
Chills
Depression and anxiety
Visual impairments
Hypersensitivity to foods, scents, sounds, or light
Fainting
Difficulty maintaining balance
What causes chronic fatigue syndrome?
The exact cause of CFS is unknown, but scientists theorize the following possibilities:
Virus infection
Vitamin deficiency (such as vitamin B12 deficiency)
Autoimmune disorder
Hormonal imbalance
Hypotension (low blood pressure)
What are the best treatments for chronic fatigue?
The primary goal in treating patients with CFS is to provide relief from the debilitating symptoms, since there is no cure for the actual disease itself. Unfortunately, finding the right treatment is just as complicated as diagnosing it- it’s a long process that requires time, patience, and a willingness to try new strategies.
Here are some popular options for treating chronic fatigue syndrome:
Alternative medicine- acupuncture, vitamin B12 supplements, progressive relaxation, yoga, massage, and aquatic therapy
Visiting a support group for CFS
Antidepressants
Treatments for orthostatic instability, the inability to remain in an upright position
Please tell us…
If you have chronic fatigue syndrome, do you also suffer from fibromyalgia? Have you had your vitamin B12 levels tested? Please feel free to share your opinions on this article.
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Everybody knows about Alzheimer’s disease; did you know that dementia from vitamin B12 deficiency can happen before you hit old age? Vitamin B12 deficiency and pernicious anemia are common causes of dementia. And so do many other diseases and conditions.
What is dementia?
Dementia is a brain disorder that causes you to lose thinking skills like memory, reasoning, language, and social awareness. Dementia is a progressive condition- the symptoms of dementia only worsen with time. Degenerative dementia is permanent, meaning that the brain damage that caused dementia is irreversible. Some kinds of dementia can be reversed if the cause is caught in time; such is the case with a brain tumor. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most notable types of degenerative dementia.
Short-term memory loss: While dementia patients don’t usually have difficulty remembering things from their childhood with crystal-clear vision, they are likely to forget messages, conversations, or doctor’s appointments from the previous day…or hour.
Moodiness: Alzheimer’s disease patients may shift through moods in the blink of an eye- one minute content, the next minute expressing deep anger, and rage. Paranoia and depression are common traits of elderly individuals suffering from dementia. Often, people with dementia lose interest in things like hobbies and social clubs that they used to enjoy. In some cases, they may become antisocial and exhibit bad behavior in public.
Difficulty communicating: People with dementia tend to have circular conversations, immediately forgetting what they spoke of a moment ago, and returning to the same topic. They also have trouble recalling everyday words, as their vocabulary skills have decreased significantly.
Decreased perception skills: Dementia patients have great difficulty understanding new or foreign concepts.
Inability to multi-task
Cognitive decline: Senior citizens with dementia have trouble thinking abstractly, figuring amounts, and using logic.
Dementia is caused by various illnesses and injuries, including:
Alzheimer’s disease
Stroke (Vascular dementia)
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Huntington’s disease
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson’s disease
Pick’s disease
Progressive supranuclear palsy
Brain tumor
Head injury
Chronic alcoholism
Vitamin B12 deficiency (Pernicious anemia)
Certain cholesterol-lowering medications
How do doctors diagnose dementia?
If your doctor suspects dementia, he will have to review the patient’s medical history and order various physical exams before he diagnoses dementia. Additionally, any underlying medical conditions that may contribute to dementia symptoms will be reviewed, such as low levels of vitamin B12 or history of depression.
The most common tests used to diagnose dementia are:
Neurological exam (mental status examination)
MRI brain scan
Vitamin B12 blood test
Ammonia blood test
Blood chemistry test
Thyroid test
Toxicology screening for alcohol
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis
Electroencephalograph (EEG)
Head CT
Urinalysis
Treatments for dementia
Depending on the cause of dementia, your physician might prescribe one of the following treatments for dementia:
Vitamin B12 supplements, if vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms are the cause of dementia.
Acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor, for dementia with Lewy bodies
Do you or a family member suffer from short-term memory loss, chronic fatigue, or depression and anxiety? You could be suffering from B12 deficiency. Other symptoms of low B12levels include painful tingling or numbness in hands and feet, sore red tongue, unusual clumsiness, and tinnitus ear ringing.
Please share your experiences with our community, and let us know if you found this article helpful.
In a recent video that’s sure to change your perception of autism, Carly Fleischmann, a not-so-typical autistic teenager tell us what it’s like inside her head, explaining why other autistic children act the way they do- bizarre behaviors that continue to puzzle autism experts, like head banging, swaying, and refusal to make eye contact with other people. Only instead of using verbal communication, of which she is incapable, Carly has learned how to communicate using iPadappsfor autism.
Branded “autistic” from birth
Born autistic, Carly started showing the first signs of autism as an infant; developmental delays like her inability to start crawling, sitting upright, walking, or talking at the same age as her twin sister Taryn told her parents that something was amiss. Experts said that she was mentally retarded, and close friends recommended sending Carly to an institution, but her parents refused.
“I could never do it,” admitted her father. “How can you give up your kid?”
Instead, they introduced Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), a popular therapy for autism, which also helped her with her severe verbal apraxia. With ABA, autistic children learn small tasks, one at a time, at their own rate of learning, using positive reinforcement. From the age of four, Carly started receiving 40-60 hours of one-to-one ABA per week.
“I am autistic, but that’s not who I am. Take time to know me, before you judge me.”
Still, Carly suffered severe autism, and progress was slow; she would rock back-and-forth incessantly for hours, lash out, break furniture, have sudden angry outbursts, and didn’t seem to comprehend anything that was going on around her, or understand what family members would say in front of her.
But looks can be deceiving…
“You know, I can hear you.”
At the age of 11, Carly was working with a therapist, and she was not happy about it. She was in one of her “off moods,” and didn’t feel like sitting still to learn her vocabulary. Sitting in front of a touch-screen device, she communicated her first word- “No.”
That one word opened up the floodgates for her; she started typing more words like “hurt” and “help.”
“People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can’t talk.”
Over the course of months, and after much coaxing from therapists, Carly learned how to type every time she wanted to say something. She learned how to say things to her parents that she was never able to express verbally, things like “I love when you read to me, and I love that you believe in me. I love you.”
For the first time, Carly, a teenager with autism, had control over her environment. For the first time, Carly was able to have conversations with her parents.
“I stopped looking her as a disabled person, and started looking at her as a sassy, mischievous teenaged girl,” says her dad. “She sees herself as a normal child locked in a body that does things that she has no control over.”
Carly describes her symptoms of autism
In her writing, Carly conveys a deep understanding of the world around her. Likewise, she struggles to get others to understand what her world is like…
On chronic pain:“You don’t know what it feels like to be me, when you can’t sit still because your legs feel like they are on fire, or it feels like a hundred ants are crawling up your arms…I want something that will put out the fire.”
On head banging:“Because if I don’t, it feels like my body is going to explode. It’s just like when you shake a can of Coke. If I could stop it, I would, but it’s not like turning a switch off. I know what is right and wrong, but it’s like I have a fight with my brain over it.”
On covering her ears, moaning, and rocking:“It’s a way for us to drown out all sensory input that overloads us all at once. We create output to block out input.”
On refusing eye contact: “People say that we have a hard time processing information. It’s not really true, our brains are wired differently. We take in many sounds and conversations at once. I take over a thousand pictures of a person’s face when I look at them. That’s why we have a hard time looking at people.”
On autism experts: “How can you explain something you have not lived or if you don’t know what it’s like to have it? If a horse is sick, you don’t ask a fish what’s wrong with the horse. You go right to the horse’s mouth.”
Carly becomes a delegate for autistic kids everywhere
Today, Carly communicates with other nonverbal autistic kids on the internet. She Twitters like any other teen, and she has a large fan base on Facebook and her blog, Carly’s Voice.
Carly has been the subject of many television talk shows and news segments, like Larry King Live, 20/20, and Ellen, to whom she donated over $500.00 to the Make it Right Foundation.
“Everyone has an inner voice waiting to come out.”
She has also interviewed celebrities like autism advocate Holly Robinson Peete and Joe Mantegna, who has a daughter with autism. She is also working on her first novel.
Here is her story:
Why post this story on a vitamin B12 blog?
If it seems strange that a site containing information on vitamin B12 deficiency and the vitamin B12 patch would also focus in autism, then know this:
Vitamin B12 is brain food. In a study focusing on 50 autistic children who were given vitamin B12 supplements, nine of the children saw improvement in language and socialization, in addition changes in biomarkers for oxidative stress.
Vitamin B12 is good for the nerves. By supporting the myelin sheathe that insulates your nerve cells, vitamin B12 protects you from severe nerve damagelike apraxia and paresthesia
Vitamin B12 deficiency occurs with autism. Many children with autism also have vitamin B12 deficiency. By supplementing with extra B12, parents of autistic children note a marked decrease in their child’s autistic behaviors.
Gastric bypass surgery offers the morbidly obese a new lease on life, according to research. Recent studies confirm that people who undergo Roux-en-Y weight loss surgery lose the most weight and keep it off, more so than with gastric banding. But while gastric surgery promises a high success rate, the risk for serious complications is significantly higher than with other kinds of bariatric surgery.
What is gastric bypass surgery?
The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass changes the size of your stomach and reroutes food past certain parts of the digestive system. People who undergo gastric bypass surgery achieve a feeling of fullness much quicker than before the surgery, and are thus able to eat less and lose a considerable amount of weight. However, because gastric bypass is a complicated procedure, many problems may arise during or after the surgery.
With the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, a small egg-sized stomach sack is created and attached to the middle part of the small intestine.
The rest of the stomach, as well as the upper section of the small intestine, are completely avoided, or “bypassed.”
A common side effect of gastric bypass is gastric bypass dumpingin which food travels through the stomach and empties into the small intestine too quickly, causing symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps.
Another common side effect is nutritional deficiency, including vitamin B12 deficiency and many other vitamin, calcium, iron, and magnesium deficiencies.
Patients of gastric bypass surgery must supplement with extra vitamins and minerals, with a special emphasis on vitamin B12 supplements, in order to avoid osteoporosis, nerve damage, and other severe illnesses.
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery is the second-most popular form of bariatric surgery after the gastric bypass procedure. Banding is a good alternative for gastric bypass surgery because it is less invasive.
In gastric banding, the surgeon places an adjustable silicon band around the upper part of your stomach, effectively cinching it to a smaller size.
After banding, your stomach can hold only about 1 ounce of food at one time.
The gastric band is adjusted through a saline solution that may be injected through a small device under the skin.
Most people who undergo gastric banding lose approximately 40% of their body weight.
Gastric banding surgery is completely reversible.
The mortality rate due to gastric banding surgery is 1/2000.
Since the small intestine remains intact, gastric banding surgery does not disrupt your digestive system, and there is no risk of vitamin deficiency, such as vitamin B12 deficiency.
Is gastric banding surgery safer than gastric bypass?
In a recent study comparing success rates between gastric bypass surgery and gastric banding, scientists had this to say:
About 17% of gastric bypass patients had complications like infections following surgery, compared to only 5% of gastric banding patients.
Six years post-surgery, 12% of gastric bypass patients were back to being morbidly obese, with a BMI over 35, while about a third of gastric banding patients were once again overweight.
Thirteen percent of bypass patients required a follow-up operation, while approximately 27% of gastric banding patients needed to return for more surgeries.
Complications involved with gastric banding include band erosion, stretched esophagus, or food-related issues.
Complications involved with gastric bypass can be much more severe; possibly fatal complications include bowel blockage and leakage of waste material into the body.
With gastric bypass surgery, food rushes through the digestive system, and essential minerals and vitamins pass through without ever being absorbed into the bloodstream. So while you feed your stomach, you are not feeding the rest of the body the nutrients that it needs to survive. Life-long supplementation of vitamins- vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and B vitamins-, and minerals is a commitment that gastric bypass patients much make.
Your chances of losing weight following gastric banding are 50/50, and there is a fair chance that you will have complications that require a return trip to the operating room. However, banding-related complications are less severe than bypass-related complications, which can be fatal. Then again, if obesity poses a serious life risk, then you might be better off with the most successful weight loss surgery- gastric bypass.
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Were you called “clumsy child” a lot growing up? It’s probably not your fault. Dyspraxia (or apraxia) is a neurological disorder that makes it difficult for people to make their bodies behave. Clumsiness, frequent stumbling, having a hard time focusing or remembering instructions- these are all symptoms that people with dyspraxia have to cope with all their lives.
What is Dyspraxia?
“Clumsy child syndrome” or dyspraxia is a mild form of apraxia, a neurological disorder that makes it difficult for people to plan and execute physical actions like jumping, carrying items, or standing in line without stumbling or dropping.
Dyspraxia is also called motor learning disability and development co-ordination disorder (DCD). People with dyspraxia might have difficulty walking without stumbling, catching a ball, or learning new skills, but that does not mean they are less smart than others are; they are able to learn the same things as other people, only at a slower rate.
What causes dyspraxia?
There are two main kinds of dyspraxia- dyspraxia that occurred because of a stroke or other illness, and developmental dyspraxia, which is inherited from birth. Scientists don’t know what causes developmental dyspraxia, and there is no cure.
Approximately 10% of all people have some basic level of dyspraxia, although only 2% have severe dyspraxia. About 75% of all dyspraxia sufferers are male.
What are the symptoms of dyspraxia?
Children and adults with developmental dyspraxia may exhibit the following symptoms:
Poor coordination
Disorganized
Slow reflexes
Difficulty dressing himself and tying his shoes
Tripping while going up and down stairs
Frequently bumping into furniture
Dropping things
Inability to compete in sport-like activities, like jumping, playing hopscotch, and catching, throwing or kicking a ball
Difficulty processing thoughts
Poor concentration
Overly affected by stimuli like scents, noise, and tactile sensations
Inability to filter out stimuli
Difficulty in learning new skills- low learning curve
Finds being in a classroom overwhelming, but is able to learn with a personal tutor
Difficulty learning math skills
Difficulty following instructions and remembering them later
Famous successful people with dyspraxia
Developmental dyspraxia is not a form of brain damage, and it does not reflect one’s intelligence. In fact, many of the world’s greatest thinkers have suffered from dyspraxia. Below are some famous people who have learning disorders like dyspraxia , and some who are rumored to be among the many sufferers of this disorder.
Daniel Radcliffe
David Bailey (An English photographer whose subjects included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones)
Richard Branson (the billionaire who owns the Virgin Group
Bill Gates
Robin Williams
Einstein (although many rumor that he had Asperger’s disorder)
Marilyn Monroe
Stephen Fry
Isaac Newton
Emily Bronte
Picasso
Mozart
Ernest Hemingway
George Orwell
How does this relate to vitamin B12 deficiency?
Vitamin B12 deficiencyand apraxia symptoms both include similar neurological disorders; gait disorders like difficulty walking, jumping, and running, decreased hand-motor coordination, and frequent clumsiness are some common indicators of vitamin B12 deficiency and dyspraxia/apraxia. But unlike the latter, vitamin B12 deficiency has a cure; routine vitamin B12 supplements quickly cure any neurological impairment caused by low B12 levels.
Question: What do you think of the statistic that boys are 75% more likely to suffer from apraxia than girls are?Do you think that’s a true statement, or is it more likely that girls are better able to disguise their disability and adapt to social norms, and that deficiencies in physical performance are more noticeable in boys than in girls?
Do you know anybody who would be interested in receiving this information? Please share!
Vitamin B12 deficiency, Addison-Biermer’s anemia- Pernicious anemia (PA) has been called many things. Though we have a cure in vitamin B12 supplements, symptoms of pernicious anemia remain similar to historical descriptions of this once fatal disease.
“Starvation in the midst of plenty”
In 1849, if a doctor diagnosed you with pernicious anemia, he would have told you to say your prayers. That’s because back then, the survival rate was 1-3 years. Many scientists tried various experiments to find out what caused this fatal disease, which was as dreaded as leukemia or cancer is today, causing symptoms like tiredness, painful tingling in the arms and legs, muscular weakness, and finally, death.
Finally, Dr. William B. Castle made an important scientific breakthrough. He conducted an experiment that involved feeding regurgitated raw hamburger meat to patients of pernicious anemia, and discovered the presence of intrinsic factor, an essential chemical found in gastric juices that is lacking in pernicious anemia patients. Like many medical discoveries, the next one that occurred somewhat by accident. In trying to find a cure for anemia resulting from blood loss, Dr. George Whipple produced the first cure for pernicious anemia- raw liver. Later, in 1926, scientists developed a more concentrated antidote based on the same therapy- raw liver juice, to be swallowed or injected.
It wasn’t until two decades later that scientists finally discovered the potent ingredient in raw liver juice. In 1948, two chemists from the US and Britain isolated cobalamin as the health-giving nutrient, and named it vitamin B12. For patients of pernicious anemia, dosages of 1000 to 4000 mcg, prescribed daily, were given orally as vitamin B12 pills or through intramuscular injection, as a vitaminB12 shot. Other methods of supplementing vitamin B12 are sublingual B12 tablets and behind-the-ear vitamin B12 patches.
Scientists today understand that pernicious anemia is a form of megaloblastic anemia, resulting from weakened DNA synthesis in red blood cells. People with pernicious anemia suffer from an autoimmune condition that inhibits your body’s ability to produce intrinsic factor, thus resulting in vitamin B12 deficiency. Rarely does pernicious anemia ever result in death, since doctors today know how to diagnose the symptoms early on, and confirm diagnosis with a vitamin B12 blood test. Still, many of the symptoms of pernicious anemia are disabling, and often confused with other conditions like clinical depression, thyroid disorder, and diabetes.
Typical symptoms of pernicious anemia are:
Diarrhea
Chronic fatigue
Pale complexion
Decreased appetite
Dizziness
Loss of concentration
Shortness of breath while exercising
Painful tingling or numbness in the hands and feet
If your body stores vitamin B12 in the liver for years, how does vitamin B12 deficiency happen? Even if you eat plenty of foods that supply vitamin B12 (cobalamin), such as meat and fish, you might still run the risk of developing severe vitamin B12 deficiency that can culminate in pernicious anemia or nerve damage. What conditions and lifestyle choices affect your B12 levels?
Vitamin B12 deficiency today
Vitamin B12 deficiency is the leading form of vitamin deficiency, affecting nearly 40% of people between the ages of 26 and 83, according to a Tufts University study on B12 deficiency. For elderly individuals, the risk of low B12 levels is 20%.
Vitamin B12 helps your body protect the nervous system’s myelin sheath; as a result, B12 deficiency symptoms may include painful tingling or numbness in the hands, feet, and tongue, muscular weakness, difficulty walking, frequent clumsiness, altered sense of taste, burning mouth syndrome, and eye twitching.
Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble nutrient that occurs exclusively in animal-based food items. The basic food sources of vitamin B12 are meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk. Contrary to popular opinion, brewer’s yeast does not contain vitamin B12, although it does supply other essential B vitamins. Purple and green seaweed are the only naturally rich vegan sources of B12. So, if you follow a vegan diet and do not eat generous portions of nori every day, then you are likely to develop B12 deficiency over the course of several years.
If you’re over 50, there’s a 30% chance that you suffer from atrophic gastritis, a general wearing down of your stomach lining. As a result, your body doesn’t produce enough stomach acids to fully absorb vitamin B12 and deliver it to the small intestines. Insufficient stomach acids may also lead to bacterial overgrowth, which also interferes with vitamin B12 absorption.
Other people at risk include individuals taking protein pump inhibitors (PPIs) for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ulcers, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, and long-term antibiotic use.
Another chemical the stomach produces for digesting vitamin B12 is intrinsic factor. Certain autoimmune disorders may inhibit your body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12 by attacking stomach cells before they have a chance to produce this necessary protein. Regardless of how many vitamin B12 supplements you swallow, the B12 never reaches the small intestines, so it never enters the bloodstream. Pernicious anemia, resulting in diminished red blood cell production, is a common occurrence when intrinsic factor is lacking.
The ileum of the small intestine is responsible for digesting vitamin B12. Located at the very bottom of the intestinal tract, the ileum grabs vitamin B12 and dispenses it to your blood supply. But if your ileum is not working properly, then you cannot derive the many benefits of vitamin B12.
Gastrointestinal factors that interfere with B12 absorption are:
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s and colitis
It’s simple. If you are unable to get your vitamin B12 from dietary sources, then the only other option is to bypass the digestive system and redirect B12 directly to your bloodstream. Below are some popular methods of supplementing vitamin B12 without using the stomach.
Vitamin B12 shots: B12 require a prescription from a doctor. Because of the size of cobalamin molecules, B12 shots are usually painful, and must be inserted into thick muscular tissue, such as the thigh or buttock. Even if you have a high threshold to pain, the idea of having to take vitamin B12 injections for the rest of your life can be worrisome.
Sublingual B12 pills: The jury’s still out on the effectiveness of sublingual vitamin B12 tablets that dissolve under the tongue; whether they actually enter the bloodstream or just travel through the digestive system is under debate. Your physician might prescribe B12 pills to be taken three times per day.
Vitamin B12 sprays and creams: There is insufficient data to support the use of nasal sprays or lotions as a means of combatting vitamin B12 deficiency.
Vitamin B12 patch: The B12 patch is a popular “alternative” form of vitamin B12 supplementation, although it is quickly becoming accepted as mainstream. One vitamin B12 patch contains the same amount of cobalamin as a weekly B12 injection. For children and adults who must take regular B12 shots, this is good news. And unlike B12 pills, you need only remember to take a B12 patch once per week.
Vitamin B12 deficiency is one of the fastest growing forms of malnutrition, inflicting at least 40% of all adults with symptoms like fatigue, memory loss, painful tingling sensations, and psychosis. But what researchers know about the effect of B12 deficiency in children is even more troubling…
Infants with B12 deficiency
Scientists have conducted many studies focusing on neurodevelopment issues in infants diagnosed with low cobalamin- severe vitamin B12 deficiency. One such study conducted by UC Davis noted symptoms of neurological disorders in breast-fed infants born to women with undiagnosed pernicious anemia, including:
For adults, vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms may take years to surface. That’s because the liver stores vast amounts of B12, and unless you lack intrinsic factor, your body constantly replenishes its supply of B12 whenever you eat foods like beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and milk. However, if you follow a vegan diet, or if you are unable to produce intrinsic factor in your stomach, then your vitamin B12 levels will eventually become depleted.
Newborn infants are not born with large stores of vitamin B12, especially if their mothers have pernicious anemia or refrained from eating foods with B12 during pregnancy or while nursing. Even though they are born neurologically healthy and of a normal birth weight and size, symptoms of B12 deficiency usually manifest between four to ten months of age, but can occur as early as the second month.
After receiving vitamin B12 supplements, infants began recovering rapidly from neurological illness, and eventually experienced a reversal of symptoms, confirming scientists’ beliefs that B12 deficiency causes nerve damage, brain atrophy, and chemical imbalances in thebrain.
Find out if you or your infant has B12 deficiency by taking a simple blood test. If diagnosed, your doctor may recommend sublingual vitamin B12 pills, intramuscular B12 shots, or a vitamin B12 patch.
Symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency
Many other neurological and emotional ailments are attributed to low B12 levels:
Keeping your heart healthy requires making many lifestyle changes; most people don’t realize that avoiding vitamin B12 deficiency is just as essential for your heart as eating heart-healthy foods, exercising, and reducing stress. Below are some pointers for preventing cardiovascular disease, including reasons why extra vitamin B12 supplements are beneficial for a healthy heart.
1- Monitor your vitamin B12 levels
Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, supports many necessary functions in your body. Vitamin B12 helps you produce plenty of red blood cells, helps maintain your nervous system, assists in building DNA, and generally improves metabolism, cognitive functioning, strength, and energy.
Vitamin B12 is also an essential nutrient in the prevention of heart disease and stroke. By lowering homocysteine levels, vitamin B12 also lowers your risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. The American Heart Associationurges people to eat a healthy diet that includes folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 for optimal heart health.
Goal:Get tested! Elderly individuals, people diagnosed with pernicious anemia, patients of gastrointestinal disorders, or anybody who has had gastrointestinal surgery involving the removal of the ileum (gastric bypass) cannot absorb vitamin B12 in the stomach, and must take B12 supplements in order to avoid suffering B12 deficiency. To find out if you are at risk, request a blood screening for vitamin B12 deficiency from your doctor.
All health experts agree that incorporating at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, at least 5 days per week, is the single most important lifestyle change you can make for your heart. Conversely, increasing evidence indicates that living a sedentary lifestyle- watching several hours of television each day, sitting at a desk for long periods without breaks, and shunning exercise- is one of the biggest contributing factors to heart disease.
Goal: Break it down! If you’re daunted by the idea of spending 30 minutes on a treadmill, plan three 10-minute breaks in the day for exercise, instead. Walk your dog or do a window-shopping run around the mall (without stopping!). If you work at a desk, set your timer to alert you to get up and stretch at regular intervals.
Prevent cardiovascular disease by following a low fat, low cholesterol diet. Avoid saturated trans-fats, and opt instead for small doses of healthy monounsaturated fats, like olive or canola oils. If you normally eat red meat, switch instead to lean poultry, which also contains plenty of vitamin B12. In addition to cutting down on fats, you should also eat more vitamin-enriched foods that are low in salt and refined carbohydrates.
Goal: Spice it up! Train your tongue to like nutritious, low-fat foods that have fewer “empty” calories. Go for high-fiber vegetables, grains, and legumes, lower-fat meats, cheeses, and spreads, and shake things up with dashes of cayenne pepper, ginger, cumin, paprika, turmeric, and granulated garlic. By focusing on the spices, you’ll feel more satisfied, and less likely to miss that fatty mouth-feel of fried foods.
Numerous studies conclude that obesity is one of the greatest health risks that affect people today. Being overweight overburdens your entire body, contributing to illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and other life threatening conditions.
Goal: Size it down! By cutting down the size of your plate, you alternatively cut down your dress size. Try using smaller plates, include veggies, omit surgery drinks, eat slower, and resist the urge to go for seconds.
If you think you might be suffering some of the symptoms of heart disease, such as breathlessness, heart palpitations, increased sweating, call your doctor right away. Ignoring even the smallest signs can be a matter of life or death.
Goal: See your doctor! Pay attention to bodily cues, and schedule a checkup, immediately.
6- Keep your emotions in check
Stress, anxiety, and depression are all taxing on your heart. Succumbing to anger increases your chances for heart attack, as well.
Goal: Talk it out! When you feel nervous, sad, or stressed, confide in a friend or close family member. If you’re uncomfortable asking others for help, schedule a meeting with a psychiatrist or social worker, instead.
At the very least, you should quit smoking in order to improve your heart health and your lungs. Smoking is linked with many kinds of cancer, asthma, and chronic bronchitis.
Goal: Don’t give up! If you’ve tried to quit smoking in the past, then try again. Research shows that the more times you attempt to quit smoking cigarette, the greater the chances of eventually reaching that smoke-free goal. Ask your healthcare provider about quit-smoking programs, or try using a patch.
If you drink more than two alcoholic beverages per day, then you need to cut it down. Research shows that drinking too much alcohol is dangerous for the heart, as well as the liver.
Goal: Seek help! If the notion of keeping your alcohol drinking down to one or two beers each day sounds overwhelming, then you might require extra assistance from Alcoholics Anonymous.
If you snore, then you might be a candidate for heart failure or stroke, according to latest research on the heavy risks of snoring. Obstructive sleep apnea is one of many factors that may lead to cardiovascular disease.
Goal: Wear your mask! So far, the best treatment for severe sleep apnea is wearing a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure device (CPAP) while sleeping.
10- Take care of your choppers
Over time, your teeth develop a layer of plaque that contains bacteria. Unless you brush and floss regularly, you can get gum disease, causing bacteria to seep into your blood supply and contributing to heart disease.
Goal: Floss it! Floss and brush morning and evening, and floss after meals.
Don’t fall victim to the “all or nothing” attitude. You don’t have to become a health and fitness enthusiast, but nor should you throw up your hands in despair. Accept that with every one success come numerous setbacks, and that lifestyle changes happen slowly, over a period of weeks, months, or even years.
Goal: Take baby steps! All successful weight-loss and fitness experts encourage you to set small, reachable short-term goals, in addition to the long-term goal of better health. This allows you to feel a small measure of success, and gives you the motivation you need to stay on the wagon. Congratulate yourself for losing 10% of your weight, losing a dress size, or every time you make a healthy food choice.
12- Respect your medications
Don’t think that just because you feel better, that you can stop taking your blood pressure medications. Many heart patients make that common mistake. If you are unhappy with a side effect of certain medications, then ask your doctor for an alternative. Conversely, don’t rely on medications alone to keep you healthy. It is essential to follow a heart-healthy diet, in addition to exercising and reducing stress, for optimal cardiovascular health.
Goal: Get organized! Keep your meds somewhere where you won’t forget them. If necessary, store a batch of precut tablets in a pill keeper.
What is pernicious anemia, and how is it different from vitamin B12 deficiency or megaloblastic anemia? That is one of many questions that people have about pernicious anemia- questions that are answered here.
1. What’s the difference between pernicious anemia and megaloblastic anemia?
Pernicious anemiais a form of megaloblastic anemia, a disease of the red blood cells. Pernicious anemia results from vitamin B12 deficiency; for that reason, it is also called vitamin B12 malabsorption anemia. (It is worth mentioning that pernicious anemia is only one of many conditions caused by B12 deficiency.) Other names for pernicious anemia are Biermer’s anemia, Addison’s anemia, and combined systems disease (a disorder of the nervous system).
2. What is the relationship between intrinsic factor and pernicious anemia?
Whenever you eat foods that contain vitamin B12- protein foods like beef, chicken, seafood, cheese, and eggs- your digestive system produces a chemical called intrinsic factor that grabs the B12 from your stomach, carries it through the small intestine, and delivers it to the ileum, where the vitamin B12 is then absorbed and dispersed into your bloodstream. That is how most people digest vitamin B12.
People who suffer from pernicious anemia, a deficiency in vitamin B12, are usually not able to manufacture intrinsic factor. Even if they eat a strict high-protein diet rich in vitamin B12, the B12 will pass through the intestines without ever reaching the bloodstream, causing symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency.
3. What are the symptoms of B12 deficiency- pernicious anemia?
Hands and feet often “falling asleep” or going numb
Sore, red tongue
Altered taste perception
Constant stumbling while walking
Clumsiness
Muscular feebleness
Pale complexion
Diarrhea
Stomach pains
Trouble sleeping
Untreated, vitamin B12 deficiency causes low red blood cell production, dementia, severe nerve damage, increased risk for heart attack and stroke, cancer, and osteoporosis.
4. What natural remedies work best for pernicious anemia?
Since pernicious anemia results from vitamin B12 deficiency, the only remedy you need is…more B12! The real question is: Can your body absorb vitamin B12 naturally from food sources- beef, chicken, fish, milk, and cheese- or not? Only your doctor can answer that by taking blood tests, and determining if your body makes intrinsic factor. If it is determined that you lack intrinsic factor, then you will need to take vitamin B12 supplements, most likely for the rest of your life, in order to avoid getting pernicious anemia.
5. Why is a pernicious anemia patient unable to take vitamin B12 orally?
Without intrinsic factor, your body cannot digest dietary sources of vitamin B12- and that includes vitamin B12 pills. As a rule of thumb, if vitamin B12 passes through a digestive system that does not produce intrinsic factor, then the B12 will pass through without being broken down or digested. In order to get vitamin B12 into your blood supply, you have to insert it there directly- usually through B12 shots or transdermal means.
6. How long does it take before you start to feel the benefits of vitamin B12 supplements?
Assuming you are getting the correct dose of vitamin B12, and are taking an efficient method of B12 supplements…most patients start to feel notably better within 24 hours of vitamin B12 supplementation.
7. Is Pernicious anemia genetic?
Family history is one of many causes of pernicious anemia. If your family has a history of suffering from pernicious anemia, then you should take routine blood tests for vitamin B12 deficiency throughout your life.
8. If I have one autoimmune disease like pernicious anemia, am I more likely to have another autoimmune disease?
Scientists have noted a high correlation between pernicious anemia and many other autoimmune disorders. When other diseases are a factor, pernicious anemia often occurs from drug interactions, comorbid symptoms, or a cyclical relationship with that disease. Below are some conditions that may accompany pernicious anemia:
9. I’m only 20 years old. Could someone my age have pernicious anemia?
Pernicious anemia can happen to somebody of any age group. Because your body stores vitamin B12 in the liver for several years, you may not know that your body has stopped absorbing it until you start to feel the symptoms, by which time your B12 levels will have dropped severely. If you suspect you have any of the symptoms of pernicious anemia, then do not hesitate to get a blood test.
10. Can pernicious anemia cause gastritis?
Gastritis- painful inflammation of the stomach lining- has many possible causes. The most common are alcohol abuse, chronic vomiting, and overusing drugs such as aspirin. Untreated, chronic gastritis can cause blood loss, and may lead to stomach cancer. Other causes of gastritis are:
Pernicious anemia
Stomach infection
Bile reflux
Viruses
11. Can pernicious anemia shorten your life?
When scientists first discovered vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, they deemed it a fatal disease, and thus named it “pernicious (malicious) anemia.” Without B12, your body is unable to make sufficiency red blood cells. Today, doctors are easily able to diagnose vitamin B12 deficiency through blood tests, administer treatment in the form of pure vitamin B12, and prevent further escalation of pernicious anemia. Untreated, pernicious anemia can lead to life-threatening illnesses, such as heart attack, stroke, and cancer.
12. Can pernicious anemia cause stomach cancer?
Pernicious anemia may cause gastric polyps, increasing one’s risk for getting stomach cancer or gastric carcinoid tumors.
13. Are there any support groups for others with pernicious anemia?
There are many advocacy groups for pernicious anemia, and most of them are on Facebook. Here are a few:
