New Vitamin B12 Test

Dr. Greger, there is a video in which you talk about vegan longevity vs. meat-eaters longevity. You mentioned that a study discovered that meat-eaters live as long or longer than vegans and vegans are more propense to heart attacks and neural damage due to the low levels of B12. Can you point me in the direction of the conclusion of that video? Is there a happy conclusion for vegans? How old are those findings? Thank you

Thank you for the explanative video.

I was diagnosed 17 years ago after the birth of my first child with a vitamin B deficiency after experiencing depression, brain fog and a series of other symptoms commonly experienced by breast feading mothers. After further testing the naturopath who was treating me at the time established that I was not able to assimilate the B’s orally due to IBS and made me undergo a regimen of B injections which seem to clear the matter, along with supplement of stevia for a lazy thyroid if I remember well.

Over the years my digestive issues have gone from bad to worth and looking back at it I have most certainly experienced episodes of mild depression and the likes, though never fully paid attention to it.

In the last 5 years I started to experience serious insomnia issues often associated with extreme bloating which led to difficult breathing only bearable in standing position. Then a little less than 2 years ago I fell pregnant with my third child, now just over a year old and whom I am still breast feading, and to the bloating was added an extreme case of restless leg syndrome, constant day and night throughout my pregnancy which in turn transformed the episodes of insomnia to a constant state as well. Aside of that the pregnancy was great and easy but I reached delivery utterly exhausted and i am presently barely recovering from the lack of sleep.

Shortly after delivery I experienced a sharp pain in the right side of my body, my right leg having been the one most affected by the restless syndrom as well. This vanished somewhat within a few hours, though an ongoing twitchy feeling settled down after that with a constant sensation of electric current running through my nerves from my little toe, with strong sensation in the sole of my foot and incessant debilitating itching up the outer side of my legs seemingly ending in the area of my reproductive organs. I thought at first that it must be related to the slight urethrocele that seemed to occur after the delivery, but that issue seem to resolve after a couple of months and the itch remained.

Then all at once it seems the IRS came back in force, I started to experience irritating burning sensation in my bladder and a couple of excruciating pain in my chest and back below my rib cage. Concerns for gall stones, yeast infection were raised but quickly turned down after appropriate screening test were done and came back clear.

Other symptoms experienced which seemed unrelated to the ones above and rather common to the aftermath of pregnancy were fatigue, brain fog though rather extreme with incapicity to focus on anything, sensitivity to light and a strange sensation of seeing fleeting shadows pass by….

That is when my gyn mentioned that i probably was experiencing a lack of vit B, which seemed to have become quite severe. She then sent me to an internist who put me on a regimen of vit B 12 complex, first orally with dosage of 15 000 mg a day for a week with no results and then shots of 5000 mg twice a week. The latter seemed to have quite positive effect and within 2 months the brain fog, sensitivity to light, fleeting shadows and inability to focus seemed to have disappeared. The nervous itch sensation though lesser at first is now slowly creeping back in :-(, along with the burning sensation and last but not least my buttocks are covered with bruises from the injection spots.

The midwife who administrates them suggested that I get tested for the B levels to see if what they are presently at….though as I had not previously done a serum or any of the other test you mention in the video, I feel that the answer will require more than a mere testing for vit B.

With much hope the above is clear and you’ll be able to provide with some light and advises.
Many thanks,

niinest

P.S.:In addition, as this will probably come to be relevant at some point, I have had to change my diet quite early on since breast feeding my little one, as I noticed that like his older brothers he seemed to develop a crying habit and some rashes around a month old. After on going an elimination diet and reintroducing the avoided food one by one, I was able to assess that wheat product would make him cry for long periods, dairy resulted in specks of blood in his stools, eggs gave him peeling off rashes and meat/fish resulted in diarrheas. So all the above were eliminated from my diet for good and he has been an easy hardly ever crying baby ever since.