What are vitamin b12 deficiency symptoms?

[Twoweekcruise]

I’ve not felt right for some time, kind of vague but chronic symptoms which are getting me down. My gp doesn’t seem interested so I’m constantly googling to try and find an answer. If I think I’ve found the answer, go back to gp, ask for that particular blood test find it’s ok then back to square one!
I’ve been reading about b12 deficiency and wonder If anyone has had this?
These are the symptoms I’m experiencing-
Very tired a lot of the time
Feel weak but still have strength
Feel light headed, especially if I bend down or walk up stairs etc
Breathless on my dog walks
Tinnitus in right ear (had mri scan couldn’t find cause)
IBS symptoms, every day
Very cold hands and feet and especially my fingers (gp says it’s Raynauds)
Very bad, chronic anxiety
Depression
Other niggly, chronic, non specific things I can always put my finger on!

I’ve had kidney, liver, bone profile blood test - all ok
Thyroid function - all ok
Vitamin d - 46 ( gp says to take otc tabs)
Iron - has been low for a long time due to awful periods, struggle with treatment due to my IBS so have settled on Spatone which is making it a long recovery, I was 9 but it’s crept up to 10.4.

Just wondering if vitamin b12 could be an issue although I’m not a vegan I do eat a little meat but hardly any red meat and no diary.

I started on the B12 1000mg tabs from H&B a few weeks ago, I'm not sure if they are the reason why my headaches have subsided but it may well be!

I do feel less tired too. I've never been diagnosed with a deficiency but I thought I would try them just to see!

Wow that B12 spray has fantastic reviews
(And no needles)

I get 3 monthly injections now but my symptoms were / are

Burning burning feet at night
Shaky
Feeling cold
Absolute bone crushing exhaustion
Fuzzy head
Twitching
Breathless
Pain

Hi. If you haven't you may want to try cutting out gluten for a short while. I know your coeliac test was negative but I know someone with a severe intolerance who shows up negative on the test but reacts with any gluten.

Those are the exact same symptoms I had, and my B12 was so low it couldn't be measured! Also had very low folate and vitamin D.

I was exhausted, would have to lie down after walking 10 minutes. Constantly anxious and nauseous, panic attacks. IBS type symptoms which would wake me up in the night. Panic attacks that woke me up. Foggy head. Dizziness.

I thought it was all down to anxiety so went to GP to see if I cold be referred for CBT. They decided to test my thyroid, which came back fine, and then ordered lots more blood tests including B12.

I had the 6 loading injections and my symptoms were completely gone by the time I had the third one.

They tested my level again and it was over 1000 (hooray!) and then again 3 months later- it had dropped down to 215 (cut off for deficiency is 200).

But they wouldn't give me any more injections 🙄 Due for another test next month so we'll see...

I have been using the spray under my tongue as it's absorbed better there- a good tip if you use it! It means if you can't absorb it orally, it can still enter your bloodstream.

Hope you can get the test and feel a lot better soon.

@BlockRockinBeats, no haven't tried the spray, didn't know it existed. I'm not too fussed with injections and wanted to follow NHS recommendations.

The injections seem a big outlay. Did you stagger the six injections over the day or do all at once? Which muscle did you use?
Sorry, my post was confusing! I did 6 injections over 12 days, so one every other day. I used the arm, but yesterday did on the thigh for the first time and much easier. I'm getting better at it!

To recap, my symptoms have been:
-extreme fatigue

• dizziness
• feeling faint
• fuzziness
• tinnitus
• vertigo
• muscle twitches (eye and fingers)
• breathlessness (used to compete in triathlon and 1/2 marathon but my heartbeat would go up to 180 after only a few minutes of pacing)
• pins and needles
• panic attacks
• over-sensitivity to noise and bright light
• great difficulty in concentrating, which made my work very difficult

I didn't have all the symptoms at the same time, for instance dizziness/vertigo was the main issues at first, but now it's more pins and needles and tinnitus. Utter exhaustion has been there all the time.

I wrote my post before reading yours JollyGiraffe and I'm amazed how common our symptoms are. I forgot to add feeling nauseous. It never last more than a week at a time but came very suddenly.

Another symptom I had, not quite tinnitus but I could hear my breathing in my left ear. It felt like my ear was blocked, and if I was slightly out of breath it felt like someone was breathing loudly right in my ear.

The constant nausea was the worst bit for me. I lost quite a lot of weight as I just couldn't eat.

I also got random heart 'flutters' and palpitations (which I think helped to trigger the panic attacks as I have a history of them).

I later had tests for coeliac disease, pernicious anaemia (2 different types of tests) and even myeloma - all came back negative.

I was supposed to get a referral to a haematologist but then moved house, and new GP wouldn't refer me as my level of 215 was 'normal'. In some countries anything below 400 is deficient!

But I've been feeling much better since, so I do think the spray is working.

If you've had a full blood count that would usually indicate anaemia and would then give them reason to do the other tests (B12, folate, ferritin and usually some intrinsic factors if it's the first set looking in to the issue) and so the full blood count you had probably didn't indicate anaemia.

There's no harm in asking for more tests if you're worried though.

Lawrence, you can have B12 deficiency without having iron-deficiency anaemia.

Haemoglobin and ferritin levels may be (and often are) normal, despite having low b12 or folate.

Current NICE guidelines are that you should treat on symptoms not B12 levels

But if you can find a GP who will do that - I want their address!!

I have had good results from B12, D and methyl folate - but I also take zinc, magnesium Vit K & potassium

Indeed, you can have B12 deficiency with normal haemoglobin levels but not uncommonly abnormal MCV or MCH levels.

This is the part that many GPs don't get. My GP assured me I couldn't be amaemic as my haemoglobin levels were normal and had to google what high MCH level signified and then put it down to a one-off (even though test 3 months later showed the same high level). Thankfully, saw another GP who knew more about B12 deficiency and Pernicious Anaemia.

Your iron is low and spatone doesn’t have much in at all. You’re probably not taking enough on to offset the periods. Where I live you’d be being treated for it at that level. Uk reference ranges for several things are indeed much wider than other countries.

There are iron pills in enterocoated format - they are still shit but just about tolerable - I’ve been forcing 100mg tablets down daily despite hyperemesis and yes, it does upset the stomach but it’s better than being anaemic. Ask your pharmacist for the most well tolerated format they have - spatone isn’t going to cut it.

Be aware that any b supplement will mask a deficiency for the purposes of tests.

On the NHS website:
*A particular drawback of testing vitamin B12 levels is that the current widely-used blood test only measures the total amount of vitamin B12 in your blood.

This means it measures forms of vitamin B12 that are "active" and can be used by your body, as well as the "inactive" forms, which can't. If a significant amount of the vitamin B12 in your blood is "inactive", a blood test may show that you have normal B12 levels, even though your body can't use much of it*

I’m going to ring the surgery tom just to check which conditions I have actually been tested for recently and go from there. If I do start supplementing with the B12 I think I’ll opt for otc products as I don’t think I could handle injecting myself.
I’m just so fed up of feeling ‘off’ but getting nowhere with the gp, I understand some deficiencies are difficult to establish but it’s so frustrating going back and forth to the GP.
The more symptoms you are listing the more I can relate to, I get a burning sensation in my heels, over sensitive to light/noise too, fluttering which makes me cough at times, breathless on my dog walks, very panicky, twitching eye lid, fuzzy head and headachy but no headache (if that makes sense?).
I’m going to list all of these down and show them to GP.
I definitely want to get my iron levels up too as I know these symptoms may be connected to my low levels but my digestive system is very sensitive and obviously having optimal levels would be great but if the flip side of that is that I can’t leave the house because of exacerbated IBS symptoms then I’m back to square one, rid of one problem and then having to deal with another! Argh!

Look on minute for vit d supplements @bettertobehealthy is I think the name of the expert here

Plus if you have ibs some supplements you won't digest so you'll be wasting your money (look at B12 deficiency online or on facebook)

@twoweekcruise, I do know exactly what you mean about the 'headachy but not headache'. It is a difficult one to describe indeed.

I've just a message I'd written some months back and I'd forgotten about a disturbing symptom I suffered from at some point and that's the feeling by body was vibrating all other. It felt as if I'd swallowed a mobile phone on vibrating mode!

I find that my symptoms tend to be worse first thing in the morning but the exhaustion hits me worse as the day go by).