MOM, I keep forgetting,
Ankita would declare to her mother, who just dismissed Ankita’s complaint. They had, after all, made several fruitless visits to the doctor to get to the bottom of Ankita’s absentmindedness,which had begun when she was 16 years old. No reason was ever found.
But things got worse as Ankita got older. Apart from regular memory lapses, she also began to experience mood swings, confusion and depression. “The quality of my life diminished. I would do rounds of different doctors who couldn’t come up with an explanation and instead prescribed antidepressants,” she says. The alarm bells went off when she began forgetting the roads and routes she had been familiar with for 20 years. “I consulted a neurologist who put me through some tests and found I was vitamin B12 deficient,” she says. Treatment was begun and her symptoms slowly started disappearing. “Within a few months, the fog in my head cleared and I felt much happier,” she declares. Ankita is just one of the thousands of people with vitamin B12 deficiency who have wasted important years of their life and thousands of rupees trying to get the right diagnosis. This is despite the fact that B12 was discovered over sixty years ago and the causes and effects of its deficiency are well-documented. “The discovery of vitamin B 12 was the most important discovery of the century. But the medical community dismisses this deficiency as justanother nutritional deficiency,” says Dr Joseph Chandy, a practising GP in UK who has been researching the implications of this nutritional deficiency for the past forty years. Dr Chandy has observed the positive effect of B12 supplementation on over 1000 patients and in many cases, through 3, 4 and 5 generations in the same family. Vitamin B12 deficiency is rarely talked about, even though thousands of people suffer this problem, which has huge health implications and plays a role in seemingly hopeless medical conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and Alzeimer's disease.
WHY IT’S ESSENTIAL
B12 IS essential for the cells of our bodies to function. Its deficiency can cause havoc in any system or gland in the body and often leads to anaemia. This vitamin is also crucial for a healthy nervous system and its lack can lead to neurological symptoms such as numbness, confusion and memory loss . “Each generation left untreated with vitamin B12 deficiency passes it on to the next generation. This results in medical conditions which mimic the signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency such as multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, psychosis and depression,” says Dr Chandy. However, people who eat large amounts of B12-containing animal products may also suffer from its deficiency. This is because it’s a vitamin which doesn’t get absorbed easily as other vitamins. Its absorbtion in the body is dependent on healthy functioning of not just one but many organs. So, if something goes wrong in any one of the organs involved, a person can become vitamin B12 deficient. “It’s the most vital element for every gland and system of the body. But, unfortunately, it’s the only vitamin with so many absorption problems. That’s why I have been trying to convince the medical community for the past thirty years to stop ignoring it,” says Dr Chandy. Factors which can cause malabsorption of vitamin B12 are the regular use of antacid and acid-blocking medicines. People on diabetes drugs like metformin should also be cautious. Exposure to nitrous oxide during surgery, alcohol, cyanide poisoning and old age can also put people at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency just as a bacterial infection of the bowels or a folate deficiency can do. In some cases, the inability to absorb B12 may be hereditary. More women than men have this problem. In such cases, it’s important to stay on the supplement for life, to enable the DNA to recover and prevent the problem from passing down the generations.
IF YOU SUSPECT A DEFICIENCY
IF YOU suspect you have B12 deficiency, the first step is to get tested. A serum B12 test is cheap and can be done by any laboratory. The next step is to identify the cause of the deficiency based on an analysis of your daily diet, done by a doctor. Experts recommend injections to correct the deficiency as tablets may not be effective with people with severe deficiency. Usually the treatment starts with daily or alternate day dose of injections, which as the symptoms settle down, become weekly and then monthly. Methylcobalamin is the most frequently used form of B12 supplementation in India. Since most people are advised to continue the therapy for the life, people fear getting too much B12. Though vitamin B12 is one of very few substances which are completely safe at all levels, it’s best to get yourself tested regularly if you are on monthly injections.
AT AN age when people party and enjoy hanging out with their friends, Manu Kohli opted to stay home. A sense of malaise prevented him from enjoying himself. “I always felt uneasy. Cramps and an upset tummy bothered me and the doctor said I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I even stopped eating at friends houses out of fear of falling ill,” says the 40 year old. No doctor could help him come out of this vicious cycle and as the years passed, the situation of his health worsened. He felt perpetually tired. Every morning, he would wake up with aches and pains and orthopaedicians diagnosed his symptoms as fibromyalgia. In 2010, Kohli suffered a slipped disc and was given a prescription for a medicine called Meganeuron. During this time, Kohli noticed that some of the symptoms lessened. He did some research on the medicine and found it contained methylcobalamin, which treats B12 deficiency. “I combed through medical articles on the Internet about this vitamin and found the names of experts in this field,” says Kohli. During his search he came upon Dr Joseph Chandy, who has diagnosed and cured B12 deficiency in hundreds of people in the UK and Sally M. Pacholok, co-author of a popular book “Could It Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnosis’. In his quest to know more about this vitamin, Kohli got in touch with both these experts, who confirmed that he was deficient in vitamin B12. Kohli has been on vitamin B12 supplements since Feb 2011 and feels his life has turned around. “My daily aches and pain have almost disappeared and I feel healthy most of the time,” declares Kohli, who later convinced Dr Joseph Chandy to come to Delhi to spread the word on vitamin B12 deficiency among the medical community. He even arranged Dr Chandy’s meetings with VIMHANS, The Multiple Sclerosis Society and Delhi Medical Association. “I am trying to create awareness. I don’t want anybody to suffer the way I did,” he says
VITAMIN B12 plays a crucial role in preventing the development of birth defects, so any woman planning a pregnancy should ensure she has a good level of this vitamin. “It’s not just folic acid but vitamin B12 too which is critical for a woman before she becomes pregnant. Together these two vitamins cut the risk of neural tube defects of the brain and spinal cord,” says Dr Chandy. Neural tube defects, which are the leading cause of infant mortality and congenital malformations, can lead to lifelong disability. The most common one is spina bifida, in which the spinal cord and back bones do not form properly. So before you become pregnant, get your vitamin B12 level checked especially if you do not eat meat or dairy products or suffer from intestinal disorders. “Starting vitamin B12 after you become pregnant may be too late because foetal abnormalities are highest in the first 4 weeks of pregnancy,” adds Dr Chandy.
A TIMELY diagnosis of severe vitamin B12 deficiency saved Jitendra Sharma from sinking into the abyss of depression. Two years ago, Sharma began reacting to the stress in his surroundings. His concentration and energy levels flagged, and he lost interest in everything including food. Drastic weight loss was the result. “I was doing odd things like going out for a walk at midnight and would sometimes scream my lungs out,” says the 45 year-old. Since the local doctor’s advice didn’t help, Sharma consulted a neurologist who took down his complete medical and family history. “From Jitendra’s dietary habits I had a hunch that a lack of B12 was the cause,” says Dr Praveen Gupta, neurologist, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon. Dr Gupta’s prediction was accurate: Sharma’s blood test showed he was deficient in vitamin B12. To replenish Sharma’s B12 levels, he was put on B12 supplements and advised to increase his intake of milk and milk-based foods as he was a strict vegetarian.
“We usually advice people to include a few non-vegetarian items rich in B12 in their meals as milk and milk based foods are not as rich in B12 as meat and fish,” says Dr Gupta.