B12d Charity Support Group Blog
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MAYCase studies from 2014 uploaded
Way back before we thought of publishing a book, we created a booklet of case studies. Although many of the case studies have been republished in the book, you will still find some of these interesting. I haven't managed to make each one a separate page on this website so I've uploaded the whole book. I hope it is useful http://www.b12d.org/book/casestudies (you reach it by clicking on the "Obtain Book" and selecting from the drop-down)
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MARCoronavirus and meetings moved online
Vitamin B12 is vital for the immune system. This means that many of the people who suffer, who come to hear Dr Chandy and speak to Dr Chandy, are at risk of weakened immune systems and of picking up forms of colds and flu that run around this time of year. A particularly dangerous virus is the Coronavirus, which leads to a collection of symptoms called COVID-19. It's worse than SARS (bird flu). It's worse than MERS. It's possibly as bad as t...
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AUGWhat's in Dr Chandy's Book?
The book distils 46 years of clinical practice as a GP in this part of County Durham, looking after many generations of the same family. During that time, Dr Chandy observed that B12 deficiency could occur, and be cured, in people who didn’t have macrocytosis (following the presentation of his observations, university researchers have confirmed this and it’s now common knowledge) B12 deficiency is far more widespread than previously thought – con...
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JULBooks for Doctors Scheme
Are you a doctor? Would you like a copy of the book "Vitamin B12 deficiency in clinical practice"? Would your doctor like a copy? The B12d charity will send a copy of the book to any clinician who asks for one (in UK, at least). To receive a copy, please send us: Your name: Your registration number (GMC/ NMC/ HPC): The postal address you want it sent to: Phone number (required by Amazon in case of a problem with delivery) Request via an email to n...
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JUNB12 Foreningen Norway
This is a B12-union that has been established in Norway as a result of poor treatment and a lack of knowledge among many doctors concerning B12-deficiency. The union was established in late March 2018. Our main goal is to raise awareness, educate those who have, or think they have B12 deficiency, to be a support group, and to follow science and new articles that are being published. That also means to ask questions regarding what is being claimed. We have already c...
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MAYVitamin B12 deficiency in Clinical Practice
At last - the book "Vitamin B12 deficiency in Clinical Practice" (subtitle "Doctor, you gave me my life back!" by Dr Joseph Alexander "Chandy" Kayyalackakom is available from Amazon. The book describes Dr Chandy's findings over 46 years of clinical practice, working as a GP in Horden, a village near Peterlee in County Durham. During that time, Dr Chandy looked after an average of 5760 people, many of whom had lived in Horden their whole lives, been born, grown up,...
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APRVitamin B12d Wordle
As the book “Vitamin B12 deficiency in clinical practice” nears completion, I thought you might like to know what’s going to be in it. Some of the areas that are covered are illustrated in this Wordle (made from the index to the first proof copy). What are the first words in this Wordle that catch your eyes? Is it “Intrinsic Factor” – so vital vitamin B12 absorption, and so often used as a marker to diagnose vitamin B12? It’s a d...
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MARB12 deficiency in Clinical Practice
If you are sharp-eyed, you will have seen photographs of a first proof of a book, by Dr Chandy, called "Doctor you gave me my life back - B12 deficiency in clinical practice". This is the result of about 7 years' work, and summarises over 40 years of Dr Chandy's clinical practice treating over 1000 people with B12 deficiency over a long period. Why is it different? There are a number of books about B12 deficiency. Israel Chanarin wrote in the 1960s and 70s about "M...
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DECGetting Started with B12 deficiency
The big problem with B12 deficiency is that the symptoms are really common, and could be caused by something else instead. Fatigue or tiredness If you don’t sleep, you will feel tired. If you are stressed, then you won’t sleep and you will feel tired. But for some people, there’s nothing to be stressed about and they spend hours asleep, and still wake up tired; or they can manage in the morning but are really tired by early afternoon. Have you checked w...
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NOVRemoving Toxins - Wine, Women and Song
Vitamin B12 is vital for animal life - without it we simply can’t function. And for animals, we have to get it from an outside source - from microbes which make it. For humans, this means we need to get our B12 from an animal that does use microbes to make B12, such as cattle, sheep, and other sources of red meat and dairy products. It isn’t as simple as just eating enough red meat. It needs to be the right kind of cobalamin (a generic name for the family of...
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NOVNeuropsychaitric symptoms - PNS
Overwhelming fatigue; pins and needles; numbness or dead spots on hands/arms or feet; twitches or loss of power in limbs (especially if one-sided rather than symmetrical). Ringing in the ears; eye twitching (nystagmus) or unable to focus. Persistent cough. What do all of these have in common? They are all conditions connected with the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The PNS has two parts - sensory and motor. The sensory part lets you feel things - if you hold something ...
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JUNEdinburgh Half Marathon - THANK-YOU
Thank-you to everyone for your generous support! My wife Alison and I spent the last Bank Holiday in May in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. Early on the morning of Sunday 27th, I set off through the cold sea fret (technically a haar) from our AirB&B to find the start of the Half Marathon. The buses were full, so I walked the couple of miles with a nice group of Portuguese who didn't have exact change for the bus, and we talked. Wow it was c...
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APRDoes B12 deficiency affect blood pressure?
There was a recent article on livestrong.com confirming that blood pressure is sensitive to B12 deficiency. But there were a few inaccuracies, so I thought I’d update the information. High (and low) blood pressure are caused by a number of factors, the most obvious of which are the state of arousal (meaning any intense emotional state, and most usually in humans, anger or stress) and the balance of electrolytes. The state of arousal causes the muscles o...
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MARWhere to get help - Protocols for diagnosing and treating B12 and hypoadrenalism (Addison's disease)
How do you check if you have B12 deficiency? The best way is from Signs and Symptoms, ie what are you suffering from? I'll come on to the blood test later. The full Protocol for Diagnosing and Treating B12 Deficiency can be downloaded by clicking on its title, but if you are just looking for the short Appendix A (many people use this to record their daily symptoms to check how soon they need their next injection) then Appendix A - 1 minute check&nbs...
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NOVI feel terrible AFTER my injection
Some people complain that, at just the time when you think you should be feeling better, you feel terrible. It's usually during the loading doses (the first few days or weeks of starting treatment, after diagnosis). How often does this happen? We think about 1 in 10 people get this effect. So you will hear about it if you read group chat like Facebook New Beginnings, but it's not very common. Most people affected suffer from skin rashes. Some do ge...
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OCTMultiple Sclerosis - does it exist?
Multiple Sclerosis - a typically incurable and fatal condition, characterised as either progressive or relapsing/remitting, characterised by muscle wasting and neuropathy. Around 2 in 1000 people suffer from this condition. It's diagnosed by finding the scleroids, or plaques, in the spinal cord or brain (or both), previously at autopsy (which is a bit late!) but now by MRI scan. But we've seen this before! First let me get this straight. We at B12d.org recogn...
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JULWorried about Cancer?
Dear Stephanie You wrote to us about a Journal article from 2009, which implies that in two academic studies from Norway, there was a higher incidence of cancer in the groups of patients receiving folic acid and also folic acid and B12. We know from our own patients that B12 actually protects against cancer and may even cure it, so this finding surprised us. However it also surprised the authors, who are quick to point out that the preventative effect of B12 in pro...
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MAYStart Early for best results - B12 in pregnancy
Is B12 safe? Actually it's one of the safest of all the nutrients. A European Commission study to identify the upper limit for vitamin supplements found an upper limit for every other Vitamin but declared that B12 is safe at any level. It's safe in your diet, it's safe when taken as a supplement, and it's safe hen recorded in the blood. Can you take B12 during pregnancy? This is the important question. As you kno, with most supplements, you need permiss...
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APRFibromyalgia and Vitamin B12
Fibromyalgia - all over body pain and a painful sensitivity to pressure (touch) - is an awful condition. Even worse, it's often accompanied by other conditions such as extreme fatigue, trouble sleeping, 'fibro-fog' (memory and concentration problems), Lupus, ME and CFS, Migrines, yeast infections, more frequent in women than men. Readers of this blog will instanty recognise many of these symptoms as they sound a lot like Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms. Well,...
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MARHow much B12 do I need?
So I have symptoms of B12 deficiency, and to me they are devastating. How much, and what sort of, B12 do I need to take? Why some people have B12 deficiency and some don't B12 is used in the body in huge quantities. It doesn't change, it's a Co-Enzyme or Catalyst or Transporter, so on the whole you don't use any up. But it seems to get deactivated and needs to be re-activated. We believe this process happens through entero-hepatic circulation, whi...
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MARCan B12 cure cancer?
Cancer - the dreaded C word! And the question whether Vitamin B12 has anything to do with it? Let's look at what we know: Vitamin B12 is needed by cell DNA to switch off genes that aren't needed right now most cells only need 1 or 2 genes switched on to perform their function. eg thyroid cells need the gene to produce thyroxin switched on, and nothing else. so they need lots of B12 to keep everything else switched off. poisons like cigarette smoke and alcohol take B1...
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FEBTalk to Dr Chandy's team (not clinicians)
Dr Chandy has 50 year's experience as a doctor, and 36 diagnosing, treating and understanding B12 deficiency. Due to some unfortunate circumstances (explained in the forthcoming book), he's also worked with patients who have had B12 supplements withdrawn or restricted. If you want to understand your symptoms and where they are going, and what is the likelihood that you have B12 deficiency, then please fill in the Symptoms Diary and email the notifications@b12d...
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JANMy Health Checks and Symptoms Diary
We've asked everyone to keep your symptoms diary up to date. Here's how you do it. The "My Health checks" area has your previous records. You add to them by using the "Run B12 Calculator" which creates a new health check. Once you have completed one, you'll see it in the "My Health Checks" area. When you do this every week (or every day, or however often) you can see a history of your symptoms and scores with dates attached, which you can then com...
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JULMethylcobalamin STINGS on injection
The last batch of methylcobalamin caused stinging when injected. We suspected that this was due to being manufactured in sterile water instead of sterile saline, and one of our recipients has come up with an excellent suggestion, to add sterile saline (0.5ml/ml) to the injection which buffers it and makes it not sting any more. Thanks
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JUNHow BREXIT affects B12
You are probably sick of hearing about Brexit, but it does affect us directly. Exchange rates have tanked. All of the B12 we get has to be imported, and we don't hold any stocks, so the cost to us has immediately risen by 10%. However it gets worse. A great many people have noticed that you can't get methylcobalamin for injection in UK, and we can no longer import methylcobalamin from Europe into UK. The pharmaceutical industry has a stronger hold over ...
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APRUSA supplies back on stream
Our favourite readers will be delighted to hear that we have had a batch of 96 bottles from USA. This is the preferred form for may of you - a bottle of 10ml or 30ml with a rubber bung in the top. They are also more cost-effective than the Arnika stocks (please note, a 30ml bottle of 1mg/ml from USA is more expensive than 10*1ml ampoules - per dose the USA stocks are much cheaper). the new supplier, also from Texas USA (the previous one still hasn't got ...
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APRHow to take B12
So you've checked out the Symptoms Checker http://www.b12d.org/admin/healthcheck/diagnosticcalculator and worked out that you are B12 deficient. What do you do then? First, try out oral supplements (sublingual lozenges or tablets). It's most likely that you aren't getting B12 in your food, since our modern farming and food processing methods mean that there's far less than there ever was. Unfortunately we've managed to raise awareness so ...
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FEBDr Chandy's latest findings - Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - is there a cure?
Work never stops, even though Dr Chandy is now 74. He'll be presenting his latest evidence that there is a form of Multiple Sclerosis, which we term MS-like presentation, which responds well to B12. The symptoms remit whilst the person is receiving treatment, consistently. On the few occasions where we have not been able to keep up treatment or the patient themselves has stopped taking treatment, symptoms relapse which is a shame, but it shows that the ...
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NOVSupport Group in Gloucestershire
Sue Childs writes I will be setting up a support group for the PAS in Gloucestershire. First meeting is 27th February 2016 at Dursley Library Dursley Glos. 10.30 to 12.30 Details will be on PAS website in near future. If your members wish to attend they are welcome and can contact me via Gloucestershire.pas@gmail.com Regards Sue Childs
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NOVMy GP Says it's all in my head
[taken from a letter written to a patient]Will you be upset if I agree "it's all in your head" and then explain why? B12 is vital for the development and maintenance of the myelin sheath around nerve axons, and there's a lot of myelin sheath around the billions of axon connections in your brain. So in the absence of trauma, the most likely cause of anxiety and depression is probably nutritional, in other words, a lack of B12. Want to put it right -...
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OCTUser Settings - Mail Preferences
Dear everyone Do you want to know whats happening with your charity? Do you want to know when we hold coffee mornings, to get the newsletter, to get alerts? Well I've just been on our website and created a sample user, and I found that it says you don't want to receive any of this information by default. So when you create an account, or when you go into your account to make any changes, if you would like the news then make sure you tick the EMAIL LIST box to a tic...
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SEPFAQ - I'm thinking of starting my own coffee morning/ web site/ event
QUESTION: Horden in County Durham is a long way away - I'm thinking of starting my own event. ANSWER: We'd be delighted to help you set up. We haven't produced lots of printed material yet, although we do have some - copies of the protocol, a booklet of case studies, we have pens and supermarket trolley coins, and of course teddy bears, to help you spread the word. RELATED QUESTION: I'd like to start my own web site ANSWER: This is where it gets more controversial....
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SEPPeterlee Carnival Sat 5 Sept 2015
And the winner of the Peterlee Carnival teddy bear is a very small person Harley. Here's his big sister accepting on his behalf, because he's sleepingoff the excitement. The B12d charity stand is proving to be a huge hit. Supported by the Big Lottery and County Durham Community Foundation (and of course our many donors), the stand has been able to raise awareness of B12 deficiency through lapel pins, pens, trolly coins and the ever popular teddybear raffles.
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AUGPirates in the Park Thurs 13 Aug 2015
Pirates in the Park a fabulous family day out hosted by Horden Parish Council. Our B12 charity had a stall in a prime location amongst other community groups. The weather was fabulous which brought out local residents and the surrounding communities. Everyone who knows or are aware of B12 deficiency paid us a visit. We had a beautiful teddybear dressed in a tee-shirt our (new) B12d logo on the front and a skull and cross bones on the back, he had a pirate hat and an...
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JUNFrequently Asked Questions, FAQ
Everyone asks different questions. But a lot of people end up having the same basic queries. With the old web site, you sent me an email (to notifications@b12d.org) and i answered each email individually. As you can imagine, this was both time consuming and slow for you. so we're trying to gather together all of the questions you ask, and put them into a section called FAQ, so you can find the answers you need straight away. It will take time to build a datab...
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MARForums and Facebook Groups
Many people ask if they can join our forums. We don\'t have separate forums just for us, we recommend that you join one of the Facebook groups.The best group to join is New Beginnings. This is a private Facebook Group, so you need to search for it and then apply to join. Unfortunately when we had public groups, people would join to shout about something and wouldn\'t shut up, so the forums have to be private so they have a way to remove an unruly member...
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MARCome along and support our coffee mornings
Do you feel alone in your suffering? Well that makes lots of us. Isn't it silly to feel lonely, when other people feel lonely too!That's why we run coffee mornings, once a month on the second Tuesday of the month 10:30 - 12:00.At the moment all of our coffee mornings are held in East Durham, alternating between Horden Welfare Club in Horden, Peterlee (North East England, UK) and East Durham Trust at Community House, Yohden Rd, Peterlee (North East England, UK...
