It was when the GP sent off a blood test to rule out ovarian cancer that an eagle-eyed lab technician spotted my blood cells were too large and tested for B12 - 74. I was given a month's worth of tablets and my levels had risen 4 weeks later but the doc was concerned when I was re-tested a month later that my levels had gone down again - she hadn't told me I was on a repeat prescription and had to take them for life!
I was given cyanocobalamin tablets but kept going back saying I still wasn't right for 9 months - they just kept telling me my levels were in the 'normal range' (over 100) and I must be depressed. Pah! I'm the least depressed person I know - a real Pollyanna. I nearly passed out in Asda in July - 9 months after diagnosis - and still they said I must be depressed. I finally started to feel better by the end of August when my levels had reached 354 and by Christmas I was pretty much back to normal with levels of 451.
The best - indeed the only - support I got was from this website and Hugo's emails were a real tonic (how's the cat, Hugo?)
I had been starting to worry I was getting Alzheimers as my memory was so bad - I would forget what I was talking about mid-sentence and swear blind I'd never been somewhere until I saw a photo of myself there etc. Now I guess my memory lapses can be put down to my age but it does get worse when I'm tired or have forgotten more than one or two tablets and I still have trouble placing things/events in time and making connections.
The saddest part of the memory loss was that it seemed to be affecting the language part of my brain - I'd forget words, meanings or how to spell things and then I started writing my letters the wrong way around etc. As words are a big part of my life this was very upsetting and meant that I had to give up my proof reading work. Also the stabbing headaches I got were always in the same place which I've looked up and think this was in the area of language. Thankfully things are pretty much back to normal except I still don't feel confident with the proof reading - and I've noticed an interesting development...
I think some other part of my brain has decided to compensate as I'm suddenly ambidextrous! My left handwriting isn't beautiful but it is legible and neater than some people's and I can quite happily switch between the two hands in any task. How odd!
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