Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Anaemia

[Juzza]

Hiya,

Haven't posted for yonks due to working full time and having a hubby addicted to facebook!

Don't know if anyone knows what i'm on about but have been signed off work due to anaemia and recent weekly bloods have shown that i have Vit B12 deficiency. I don't really eat meat and have been so ill this pg that i've not really been taking great care of myself.

Anyway GP wanted to start giving vit injections today(for a year!) but heamatologist told her that vit B12 levels aren't always accurate in pg. Point is i have read up and i've got so many symptoms associated with the vit B12 deficiency and have read that the injections can really boost energy which i've had none of for weeks.

With Jakey to look after and wanting to be fit and healthy after this baba i was just wondering if anyone has had the injections and felt better?

Sorry for long post - i won't even go into the blood transfusion i might need if my ferritin level doesn't increase.

Any replies appreciated Juz xxx

 

[NIE]

I'm sorry to hear you are feeling so bad at the moment.

Last week I was told that I had protein in my urine and when my blood test results came back it showed I was anemic. I am on iron tablets twice a day just now, but don't really feel much of a difference yet.

I'm sorry I can't help but I hope you feel better soon. xxx

 

[Juzza]

Thanks Anne-Marie. Hopefully you can get your levels up. I usually get anaemia in pg and where we live it affects your delivery plan so is worth working on it with foods like fruit cake, corned beef, brown bread, oj and ribena and believe it or not crisps (kettle type though) and dark choc!

Iron tablets normally take a while to kick in but you should feel a difference in a week or two - if not talk to your doc about Ferrograd - it gradually releases iron throughout the day and is double the dose of normal tablets. The gradual release really helps with the stomach cramps and constipation unless you've managed to escape them!

Good luck,
Juz xxx

 

Spatone Iron is the most easily absorbed scource of iron. It's natural and doesn't leave you consitpated. Best of all, you can order it online at:

http://www.spatone.com/en.php?section=home

(go to their 'shop' page).

I've bought a few boxes of this stuff over the years and have given it to my kids, my mum, even my granny who's in her 80s. You can put it into orange juice (it's just a little satchet of clear liquid). It does taste like iron though (think of the taste of blood if you cut your finger and suck on it)!

As for vitamin B12 type anaemia (or 'pernicious aneamia) - has the doctor found out the cause of your deficiency? Have you been tested for thyroid disorder (I have this and the two are often linked). If you are also hypothyroid (but you should have been tested for this?), this can lead to loss of appetite. I'm a vegetarian too and don't have the greatest diet either, but you need to try and find out what you can about nutrition and eat better.

If you have pernicious anaemia, you will probably receive an injection every 2-4 days to build up your body's supply of B12 and should start to feel better as soon as your levels build up, within a week or two.

and Juzza, I don't want to worry you, but you need to take this seriously and start looking after yourself properly.

According to PatientUK:

'If you have pernicious anaemia, you have an increased chance of developing cancer of the stomach. It is about three times the normal chance, which means that about 4 in 100 people with pernicious anaemia develop stomach cancer (even when the anaemia is treated). See a doctor if you develop any stomach symptoms such as regular indigestion or stomach pains' in the future (not related to your pregnancy, of course).

i hope you start to feel better soon.

xxx

 

[NIE]

Thanks Anne-Marie. Hopefully you can get your levels up. I usually get anaemia in pg and where we live it affects your delivery plan so is worth working on it with foods like fruit cake, corned beef, brown bread, oj and ribena and believe it or not crisps (kettle type though) and dark choc!

Iron tablets normally take a while to kick in but you should feel a difference in a week or two - if not talk to your doc about Ferrograd - it gradually releases iron throughout the day and is double the dose of normal tablets. The gradual release really helps with the stomach cramps and constipation unless you've managed to escape them!

Good luck,
Juz xxx

I think I am lucky as so far I've not had any stomach cramps or constipation with the iron tablets but as you said it's still early days.....who knows what the next week will bring. xxx

 

[Juzza]

Hey Wendy thanks so much for your help. I know i need to start looking after myself and have started eating more frequently i just can't stomach meat - i've never been a great fan but this time it really makes me feel sick.

I'd love to try that spatone so might give it a go although like i say i'm crap at stomaching things at the mo and can barely drink my OJ with the pills let alone anything in it.

I think i've had thyroid tested in the past and was fine. Basically my doc thinks my Vit B12 is down because i haven't been eating meat or eggs for about a year off and on and she seems to think that using food to raise it now is pointless and wouldn't work.

It was the haematologist who seemed to think that pg vitb12 indicators are inaccurate but i feel so tired and have experienced so many symptoms like pins and needles, memory loss, concentration, back ache etc that i'm tempted to go back to doc and just demand the jabs.

I slept almost all night and day today - thankfully Jakey is still with the childminder for the next 2 wks but can't even imagine how'll i cope once her contract finishes.

I've heard that lots of people experience almost immediate improvement from vitb12 jabs so they can't be that bad. And even if i get my ferritin up that has nothing to do with my vitb12 which my doc says is impossible to raise with food.

I just want an incy bit more energy!

Sorry for long moan!
Juz xxx

 

Juz,

Do you drink milk and/or eat cheese? ½ pint of milk (full fat or semi skimmed) contains 1.2 µg of vitamin B12 and you only need about 1.5µg daily. It's also usually added to breakfast cereals. If you can increase these things in your diet, that would be a good idea.

A deficiency in vitamin B12 - leading to anaemia - is not usually caused by dietary deficiency, however (although your doctor doesn't think so), so your diet must be pretty bad . Usually, deficiency is caused by failure to effectively absorb B12 from the intestine rather than a dietary deficiency - this is caused by lack of "instrinsic factor" and this is why people need to have injections direct.

As bodies re-circulate (or re-absorb) their total stores of vitamin B12 from the liver to the bile contantly, it can take over 20 years for deficiency disease to develop in people changing to a diet totally absent in B12. This means that your poor diet in the past year or two has probably not caused your deficiency, despite what your doctor has said.

In comparison, if B12 deficiency is due to a failure in absorption (lack of intrinsic factor) it can take only 3 years for deficiency disease to occur. In this case, you must be treated with injections. The injections (of cyanocobalamin) are generally safe during pregnancy.

Has your doctor performed an intrinsic factor antibody screen? This can help determine whether lack of vitamin B12 is caused by lack of intrinsic factor (rather than poor diet). If you have the antibodies, you have lack of intrinsic factor (however only 50% of people with the antibodies are revealed by the test).

Pregnancy can wrongly show you to be deficient in B12 in the blood tests - this is what your haematologist meant, so you may not be vitamin B12 deficient after all. You seem to think you have the symptoms of deificiency though and, as it would do you and the baby no harm for you to receive the vitamin B12 injections (and, if they worked would prove you really did have a deficiency), then surely there is no harm in your doctor giving them to you?

If I was you, I would politely put this last point to your doctor and ask him/her if you can please have the injections. If the doctor refuses, ask him/her why and also ask whether you have had the intrinsic factor antibodies screen. Tell the doctor you understand that pregnancy can show a false result, but that you believe you have symptoms of deficiency. The doctor will then have to justify in your medical records why the injections were not given, which should make him/her take your views very seriously.

In the meantime, get the spatone iron and also, check out:

http://www.ultralifeshop.co.uk/product-view.asp?Product=Multi-Vitamin&action=summary

This is a liquid vitamin/mineral supplement. I haven't tried this myself yet, but I was thinking of ordering it. You can get it flavoured/unflavoured to add to a drink. It might be a good diea for you to also take something like this anyway, if your diet is as bad as you say.

I hope you feel better soon. If it's any consolation, I've had no energy lately either and sleep 10 hours a night and nap twice during the day! I don't remember being this tired with my last 2 pregnancies in the final trimester, but I've since heard that it is common in the later weeks.

Let us know how you get on.

xxx

 

[Juzza]

Crikey Wendy are you a doctor or something?

Thanks so much for all that advice. I've got to take Jacob in to the docs in the morning so am going to ask her then if i can just start having the injections and watch for improvement.

I do eat lots of Cheese and drink at least 1/2 pint milk a day - i can't seem to get enough at the mo actually.

I've had my bloods watched closely since i was expecting Jacob 2 years ago so maybe if i ask her to look at my B12 count then that will help.

Will also mention the intrinsic thing although i'm not 100% sure what it all means - would i be right to ask her if i am deficient because my body fails to absorb it fully?

Thanks again you are a star. I'm actually feeling a little better today as they've upped my Iron dose - i'm now on 650mg ferrous sulphate which equals 210mg ferrous iron i think.

Juz xxx

 

No Juzza, I'm not a doctor, I've just spent years doing research on medical stuff, so it only takes me a few minutes to look stuff up. But I'm no expert, I'm only telling you what I've quickly read, that's why you need to see your doctor.

Yes, you've got it right: you're asking the doctor if she knows if you can absorb vitamin B12. To absorb it from food, your body needs to have 'intrinsic factor' in the intestine. If this intrinsic factor is missing, then your body cannot take in vitamin B12 from food (no matter how good your diet is).

The injections work on the deficiency no matter what has caused it (i.e. lack of intrinsic factor or poor diet). Injections by-pass the intestine and go into the blood direct (the B12 goes into your blood without needing intrinsic factor to absorb it via the gut).

So, all you need to ask is: "have you tested whether I have intrinsic factor"? and/or

"Can I have the vitamin B12 injections to see whether there is an improvement? I've heard it's safe to have these during pregnancy".

 

[Cosmogirl7]

Hey

I had a vitamin B12 deficiency a few years ago and had to get injections every 3 months. They told me it was from a lack of/body not being able to absorb enough from green veg like broccoli, spinach, lettuce etc which I found strange as I eat tons of that. I used to get really bad mouth ulcers because of it but thankfully it's gone away. I'd say how for the injections, they can only make you feel better xxx

 

[Charlotte1234]

Im deficient im B12 and I have continued to have my regular 12 week injections throughout my pregnancy so far. I have had 2 so far, 1 was when I was 5 weeks and then again at 17 weeks and tbh I haven't suffered much from sickness or energy levels which I put completely down to have my vit injections :-D x