Let me tell you about a client I saw recently

Mary, not her real name, is 65 years of age and had been under a lot of stress recently with her husband recovering from cancer and her mother in a nursing home with dementia.

Mary was troubled with difficulty sleeping, she would wake tired, and fatigue enveloped her through the morning. She was dizzy a lot of the time, was unsteady on her feet and had difficulty concentrating.

Mary also had low blood pressure and what we call postural hypotension, wooziness on getting up quickly.

These issues had crept up on her over a period of time, and what we do know is that under stress, the nutritional demands on her body to keep going while looking after both her mum and her husband would have been much greater.

Where Do We Start?

My first thoughts were to ensure she was eating a balanced diet with adequate protein and a variety of fruits and vegetables to provide what her brain and energy factory needed.

At times of stress, it is often easier to just grab anything to eat on the run while not being aware of the consequences.

My second priority was to support her ability to digest and absorb nutrients from her food.

Over the age of 40 your ability to make stomach acid for primary digestion in the stomach declines which means you may not digest magnesium, calcium, protein, iron, zinc, or B12. Then you need adequate digestive enzymes in the small intestine for the second stage of absorption.

Adding to Mary’s ill-health, while under stress, messages travel down her Vagus nerve from the brain to the stomach to shut down digestion. She doesn’t need to be digesting while running from the tiger!

With the basics of diet and digestion covered, Mary started to feel a little better but still wasn’t really on top of it.

What Next?

I decided to do DNA testing to check for any possible genetic blocks to her recovery. Lo and behold, I found she had a genetic block to the transportation of vitamin B12 to the cells.

Some people may not have a block to transportation but be inefficient at recycling B12. You can usually get by until a stressful situation or poor dietary intake of B12 tips you over the edge.

Once we started Mary on daily injections of Hydroxy B12 it was like a light bulb had switched on in her brain.

Her dizziness had disappeared, she could think clearly, sleep was much better, and her morning fatigue had dissipated. She felt alive again and in control.

Interestingly, when Mary ran out of the injections waiting for her new supply, her symptoms crept back. Because she has a block to the transportation of B12 it is likely she will need to continue with injections in the long term, but she may be able to move to weekly or fortnightly over time.

A great result for Mary

One question beckons, could Mary’s mother’s dementia have been facilitated by a lack of B12?

The signs and symptoms of B12 deficiency?

The signs of Vitamin B12 deficiency are many and varied. What makes diagnosis tricky is that not everyone will present the same.

Could you be a B12 deficient?

Check out this massive list of symptoms associated with low B12:

• Neurological disorders
• Demyelination of nerves
• Dizziness
• Loss of balance
• Extreme tiredness (fatigue)
• Sleep disturbance
• Lack of energy (lethargy)
• Breathlessness
• Feeling faint
• Headaches
• Pale skin
• Noticeable heartbeats (palpitations)
• Hearing sounds coming from inside the body, rather than from an outside source (tinnitus)
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• A pale-yellow tinge to your skin
• A sore and red tongue (glossitis)
• Mouth ulcers
• Pins and needles (paraesthesia)
• Changes in the way that you walk and move around
• Disturbed vision
• Irritability
• Depression
• Changes in the way you think, feel and behave
• A decline in your mental abilities, such as memory, understanding, and judgement (dementia)

One consequence of low B12 that is not common knowledge is a loss of brain tissue or brain shrinkage. Serious Stuff! Check it out in this picture:

What is the best way to test for B12 deficiency?

Serum B12 is the most common test performed by medical practitioners. The ‘normal’ lab range is cited as 150 – 700 pmol/L. Unfortunately, in recent research, anything under 400 pmol/L has been associated with brain shrinkage. On the other hand, very high serum or blood levels of B12 may indicate a problem with B12 transport or utilization.

The backup test Holocobalamin-active B12, is often done. Both this and serum B12 do not reflect tissue levels of B12.

More accurate indicators of B12 status are mean cell volumn (MCV), Homocysteine, and Methylmalonic acid. Genetic testing shows us whether you can recycle B12 or transport B12 to the tissues.

How do we get B12 from our diet?

We know that B12 is only sourced in animal products. Vegan foods do not contain B12 unless it has been added. Mushrooms only have B12 if grown in manure and the type of B12 is not well utilised.

If you have any concerns about your B12 status, please don’t hesitate to either email me or sign up for my FREE 20-minute chat.

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