B12 Questions

[femfrankie]

Okay Im bypassed 4 months now and most will now know from my diary Im already showing signs of malabsorbtion. I'm low in Vit D, Low in Calcium & also B12. I am taking adcal D and centrium at the moment and received my first b12 shot today. while at the nurse I asked what my actual level b12 was. Not a clue what it all means so hopefully somebody can give me their opinions so here goes...

For the record i better explain that this has all been organised through my GP as I preempted my providers February test as I have been feeling really quite low and crappy in myself for a good few weeks now
GPs tests says my level is "134" but my red blood cells are not big yet thankfully .. just how low is that in the scheme of things?
I am a bit concerned as I have only to get two injections initially and then a booster every 3months.
Is that really going to be enough??
My gp surgery are not well informed re bariatrics and dont seem all that concerned about my b12 claiming it to be only 'borderline'. Tried phoning Rosshall for clarification too but there is no one available today to ask
I have trawled the internet trying to get info but with the brain fog nothing makes sense and there seems to be such a difference of opinions out there .
All advice is welcome folks thanks xxxx

 

[ThinnerJemima]

B12 should be between 174 and 1132, mine was 156 last time.

 

[femfrankie]

thanks jemima ..Sorry for being dense but is that low? & do you get b12 injections?

 

[fjsinc]

Pretty low. In comparison, my b12 was 992!

 

[femfrankie]

oh .... it would appear I'm low then
Thanks fiona. i just dont want to be bolshy with the medics unless im sure I have a right to be lol xx

 

[Lincs Lass]

I have B12 injections every 3 months (I don't know what my current level is - i suppose I should find out :-/ )

 

[femfrankie]

Will be interesting to see if the NHS will take this recent finding from the CDC in USA on board. I'm lucky that my GP ignores the strict protocol of 1 injection in 12 weeks but am really aware that there are quite a few that stringently adhere to that rule. I find that i cannot get any more than 8 wks from my top up injection and can feel the big wind down starting at 6wks.

Hopefully this link to the report comes out ok

CDC - Managing Patients, Vitamin B12 Deficiency - NCBDDD

 

[princess4d4]

guess i have all this still to come bad enough getting bloods done all the time without injections grrrr

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

maybe someone can explain some of this stuff....

I had a plication back in early March 2013. The hospital asked my doctors to do a thorough blood screen back in September and I went and had them done. At previous after care consultations - they presumed everything was ok as we'd heard nothing from the doctors.

The past few months I've been feeling really rough - I get tired quickly and am generally done in by about 4 or 5pm. Last month or two I've got increasingly woolly headed... I've had a couple of incidents (one scary one on Monday that lasted about 3 hours) where I literally COULDN'T think or concentrate. It was like someone totally anaethetised my brain....

I went for a doctors appointment today and told her how all these odd things were happening that I couldnt understand. She looked at the bloods from September and said everything was ok - but that I was rather low in folic acid which is a B vitamin from back then (2.1 instead of 2.7)

I've to go back for another set of bloods on Friday which the doctor has said she'll look at - but says it could be low folic acid, B12 or vit D OR the pill that's doing this. I've been feeling rough since January time though - before I went back on the pill.

Anyone tell me how you actually feel / your symptoms when low in folic acid / B12 or vit d please ?

 

[princess4d4]

Not sure on b12 or vit d but I had low folic acid had no symptoms it just showed in bloods I had done and was given pills for 3 months but everyone is different so some could show symptoms but not sure what they would be

 

[rachlou85]

maybe someone can explain some of this stuff.... I had a plication back in early March 2013. The hospital asked my doctors to do a thorough blood screen back in September and I went and had them done. At previous after care consultations - they presumed everything was ok as we'd heard nothing from the doctors. The past few months I've been feeling really rough - I get tired quickly and am generally done in by about 4 or 5pm. Last month or two I've got increasingly woolly headed... I've had a couple of incidents (one scary one on Monday that lasted about 3 hours) where I literally COULDN'T think or concentrate. It was like someone totally anaethetised my brain.... I went for a doctors appointment today and told her how all these odd things were happening that I couldnt understand. She looked at the bloods from September and said everything was ok - but that I was rather low in folic acid which is a B vitamin from back then (2.1 instead of 2.7) I've to go back for another set of bloods on Friday which the doctor has said she'll look at - but says it could be low folic acid, B12 or vit D OR the pill that's doing this. I've been feeling rough since January time though - before I went back on the pill. Anyone tell me how you actually feel / your symptoms when low in folic acid / B12 or vit d please ?

I have b12 injections and take 2 dissolvable vitamin d a day I had no symptoms at all it just showed up on the bloods I had done at my first appointment and sent a letter to my GP to put me on b12 and vit d .

 

[emmahc1975]

If you get low in b12 you'll feel very tired.

 

[femfrankie]

maybe someone can explain some of this stuff....

I had a plication back in early March 2013. The hospital asked my doctors to do a thorough blood screen back in September and I went and had them done. At previous after care consultations - they presumed everything was ok as we'd heard nothing from the doctors.

The past few months I've been feeling really rough - I get tired quickly and am generally done in by about 4 or 5pm. Last month or two I've got increasingly woolly headed... I've had a couple of incidents (one scary one on Monday that lasted about 3 hours) where I literally COULDN'T think or concentrate. It was like someone totally anaethetised my brain....

I went for a doctors appointment today and told her how all these odd things were happening that I couldnt understand. She looked at the bloods from September and said everything was ok - but that I was rather low in folic acid which is a B vitamin from back then (2.1 instead of 2.7)

I've to go back for another set of bloods on Friday which the doctor has said she'll look at - but says it could be low folic acid, B12 or vit D OR the pill that's doing this. I've been feeling rough since January time though - before I went back on the pill.

Anyone tell me how you actually feel / your symptoms when low in folic acid / B12 or vit d please ?

This us exactly how I was hun and I was actually going cross eyed! I was also falling asleep at every available opportunity but waking up at 3 in the morning tired but unable to find sleep. Not sure what what was making me feel so ill as I was very low in vit B12, vit D, calcium. My folic acid was okay but here in Scotland we use the old testing method which doesn't show how "active" the folic acid is. x

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

I've been getting bad headaches - even in the middle of the night after taking pain killers before bed.

I had another really funny turn yesterday evening. Lasted a good hour and really felt like passing out. Struggled to hold my head unsupported and that was semi reclined on sofa.

I'm feeling dreadful almost all the time but sometimes worse than others. It's getting really scary. I'm going to have bloods done tomorrow at the doctors - but I think I'll phone my providers too as I'm getting quite worried ATM and need to get to the bottom of this.

 

[femfrankie]

Sounds so similar Sarah. I know you have had a wrap and I don't know what implications that has on malabsorption or the intrinsic factor for you. My GP, considering my history, is actually questioning whither I was low in b12 before my op as he feels this would account for the rapid drop (within 3 mths). The pernicious anaemia society has good info as does the b12d website. It's full of useful information. The only thing is I found that because I was so wooly headed at the time I couldn't take it in but once I got my levels up a bit I found it insightful and so helpful. Good luck hun xx

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

There aren't meant to be any malabsorption issues - but obviously my doctors didn't relay something that may have been important toy team back in September !

At the moment, I think really quite ill with whatever this is and it's worsening a lot every day this past couple of weeks. Bloods tomorrow and I think I'll phone the hospital bariatrics team as soon as I get to work this am. I want to make sure they know about bloods this time. Hopefully only a few more days of hell and I'll maybe know what's wrong

 

[femfrankie]

Fingers crossed that you & docs get to the bottom of it. If it turns out you are low in b12 I can say that the injections are really quite quick acting.. It was like this huge mental fog was lifted off me within the week of my course of jabs. Other symptoms faded slower but I felt lots better. Good luck hun xx

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

Thanks. Good to know. Other than tiredness, no funny turns today thankfully. Bloods tomorrow. Hoping they find something so I can start to move forwards and get out this rut .

 

[femfrankie]

As a wrapper Sarah do you need to take dietary supplements?

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

No - absolutely nothing ! Should not have any malabsorption issues / dumping etc

In the main, I've had no issues and this could be totally unrelated. Thankfully, I've been ok yesterday and today other than a bit tired.

Need to see what the blood results say