When you start listing all the little ways in which you feel unwell, it becomes hard to stop. From yawning to losing your keys and it seems to come in good and bad patches. There is a big chance that you are low in Vitamin B12 and yes it is added to your breakfast cereals and other foods but you can still be low.
Check out the symptom list below and see how you are doing. If you are here because of low thyroid or low adrenal reserve then B12 is interconnected with both and you should be looking at having B12 in the top section of your recommended range.
Symptoms :
Common/early symptoms
- Shortness of breath – ‘the sighs’
- Extreme fatigue
- Brain fogs
- poor concentration
- short-term memory loss
- confusion (‘handbag in the fridge syndrome’)
- nominal aphasia (forgetting names of objects)
- Clumsiness/lack of coordination
- Brittle, flaky nails, ridges on the nails, no half moon
- Dry skin anywhere on body
- Mood swings, ‘tear jags’, heightened emotions
Neurological symptoms
- Imbalance:
- dizzy/faint
- ‘shoulder bumps’ – frequently bumping into or falling against walls
- general unsteadiness, especially when showering and dressing
- inability to stand up with eyes closed or in the dark
- Numbness/tingling – especially in hands, arms, legs, feet
- Tinnitus – nerve damage in the brain
Less common symptoms
- Irritability/frustration/impatience; desire for isolation, quiet and peace; aversion to bright lights and crowded spaces
- Unaccountable and sudden diarrhoea often reported following a spell of constipation
- Sleep disturbance
- even though patient is exhausted, is unable to sleep
- waking up still tired, even after many hours sleep
- Hair loss – can range from moderate to severe; premature greying of hair
- Poor digestion
- Burning legs and feet – Grierson-Gopalan Syndrome
- Neuropathic pain/fibromyalgia – often on only one side of the body
- Vertigo – inability to cope with heights, linked to the need for a visual reference as compensation for damage to the brain’s balance mechanism
- Hypo- or hyper-thyroidism – almost exclusively among females
- Psoriasis/eczema/acne
- Rosacea – a reddening of the skin around the nose and cheeks
- Arrhythmia – irregular, fast or slow heartbeat
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Coeliac disease – sensitivity to wheat and/or wheat products
- Myasthenia Gravis – weak muscles leading to problems swallowing, chewing and opening eye(s)
- Vitiligo – white patches that develop on the skin
- Psoriatic Arthritis
This is for indicative purposes only and is NOT a definitive tool for self-diagnosing.
Thank you to Pernicious Anemia Society for this list.
Now I’ve scared you into hopefully taking action, here’s how I managed to get the help I needed and why I suggest everyone over 50 or with a thyroid issue needs to have a B12 baseline test when they feel good and compare it to a B12 test when feeling rough.
