Yoga and CFS help

Thankyou i will deffinitly ask my doctor about Vitamin B12.

Do you think B12 would cause the thyroid issue?

No - it's more that if you have one autoimmune disease it's likely you'll have another.

B12 deficiency: an invisible epidemic

B12 deficiency isn’t a bizarre, mysterious disease. It’s written about in every medical textbook and its causes and effects are well-established in the scientific literature.

However, B12 deficiency is far more common than most health care practitioners and the general public realize. Data from the Tufts University Framingham Offspring Study suggest that 40 percent of people between the ages of 26 and 83 have plasma B12 levels in the low normal range – a range at which many experience neurological symptoms. 9 percent had outright deficiency, and 16 percent exhibited “near deficiency”. Most surprising to the researchers was the fact that low B12 levels were as common in younger people as they were in the elderly.

That said, B12 deficiency has been estimated to affect about 40% of people over 60 years of age. It’s entirely possible that at least some of the symptoms we attribute to “normal” ageing – such as memory loss, cognitive decline, decreased mobility, etc. – are at least in part caused by B12 deficiency.Ask your doctor to test your serum B12 and Serum Folate levels checked if for nothing else but to eliminate them as being a cause of your symptoms.

Hi Clivealive,

You have an extrodinary amount of knowledge on B12 so I have a Q for you.  When I take b12, my levels triple. My doc told me not to take it or it could effect my liver. I stopped taking it and the pain in my liver area is gone.

My family has a stong history of pernicious anemia. Is it possible the b12 is not obsorbing?  Would that cause the numbers to be that high?  

I stopped taking b12 and am going in for another b12 test to see if it is low. I will lelt you know how it turns out, but I wanted your imput.  

How much do you know about pernicious anemia?  Anything? I have read everything and of course all the women in my family take injections.  

Because I have several diseases, I don't know where one starts and the other ends.

Thank you for you knowledge.

Thankyou heaps you have so much information! I will deffinitly ask for those levels to be tested

I was diagnosed with P.A 13 years after having two thirds of my stomach removed at the age of 17 in 1959 due to a perforated peptic ulcer.  It took two "Schilling Tests"  in 1968 and 1972 before I finally got the diagnosis and I was "threatened" with a diet of raw liver three times a day or injections of B12 cyanocobalamin every for weeks for the rest of my life.  Much as I love liver and onions with gravy I opted to have the injections.

For the best part of 40 years I "lived" in complete ignorance of what it was all about as I knew no-one else with P.A. and neither my monthly nurses or the occaasional doctor visits (for other reasons) ever asked me how I was coping.  My original doctor said that they would "look into my eyes" but no-one ever did and I now have retinopathy in my left eye.

Because I made my four weekly appointments in advance I was able to "slip in" the occasional three week jab just to give me an extra boost but six years ago I made the mistake of saying to the nurse "see you in three weeks". She looked at the prescription which read "Every four weeks", refused to do it and reported me to my doctor who hauled me in to see him.

When I tried to explain that I was having the return of neurological symptoms in the run up to the next jab he laughed at me and said "It can't be the P.A. because you are having the injections and if it says every four weeks then every four weeks it must be".

I then joined the Pernicious Anaemia Society (and also this forum as a "Guest" and my first question was "Am I the only person in the world who feels the need of more frequent injections?" and I was astounded at the number of responses agreeing with me and that many of them had also come up against the "one size fits all" doctors who won't budge from "what it says on the Tin" and I began "educating" myself about this insidious deadly disease.

Long story short I eventually persuaded my doctor to treat the symptoms and not the test results or what the manufacturers recommend - but me the patient and I'm now on regular three weekly injections.

As to your question I'm not a medically qualified person and can only pass on what I have learned.

If you have been diagnosed with P.A. then you caannot stop having the B12 injections - they are for life.

You cannot "overdose" on B12 as any excess is excreted via your urine.

It may take three to six months for your levels to drop so as not to skew the serum B12 test.  Hopefully it will come back low and it would be a good idea to have your serum Folate tested at the same time.

You need to have a healthy level of Folate as this is absolutely essential to process the B12.

You don't say how you are supplementing B12.  If you do have an absorption problem they are not going to do much good.

In a normal healthy person the stomach lining has what are called "Gastric parietal cells" which produce "Intrinsic Factor" which travels with food through the small intestine which is made up of three parts - the Duodenum, the Jejunum and the Ilium.. Iron is absorbed in the Duodenum, most other nutrients in the Jejunum and our friend B12 in the Ilium. Here the Intrinsic Factor binds to the B12 and the "B12/IF Complex" enters the cells on the wall of the Ilium after binding to receptors on the surface of the Ileal cells, allowing it to enter the blood stream.

Sadly some people with "traditional P,A." either do not produce Intrinsic Factor or if they do, they also produce an antibody which destroys it and it is then called "Autoimmune Pernicious Anaemia". In addition it can happen that we produce "Parietal cell Antibodies" and "Intrinsic Factor Antibodies" which totally wipes out any chance of absorbing the B12. 

WOW, they came to your home, Awesome!

I might have to start trying more of these things you mentioned (Ginseng, Damiana, St John's Wort, Gingko biloba, Valerian).  My sleep is terrible most of the time, almost never feeling rested.

G, you always have the best (imo) alternative medicines, THAT YOU!

Finding out about herbal and other complimentary medicines has become a bit of a passion, obsession even! 

Im trying some chinese herbal medicine at the moment and it seems to increase energy slightly/feeling of wellness

Thanda I take the herbs every day 2 or 3 times a day and I really couldn't manage without them. They improve my symptoms and I use different herbs at different times for different symptoms. Also they contain various vitamins and minerals.

Thats great that yoga and your retreats are helping

Have you noticed any poses in partiular that help you feel better?

I will tey not to push myself i dont have a very good understanding of what i can and cant do and so just sometimes end up feeling dead

I can't say I do yoga daily, I am working up to it, but now, I do it when I feel the need (3 days a week?) I took some TSY (trauma sencitive yoga) classes a few times.  It got me started, but I admit, but I am not consistant. When I do take the time to do it, it relaxes me very much.

It changed me. After a while, I noticed that it made me start loving my body; I stop being ashamed of it, I accept it as it is. I learned to love my new body~my sick body.  It helped that I have a good therapist too, where I could talk about my deepest pains.

She taught me to respect and love every bit of me, the healthy and the sick part, to treat me like I would treat someone else.  When I did that, my life changed.

Self talk, yoga, it is all about healing the  trinity (whole body, mind, and spirit) without judgment.  

When I stop doing the practices for a couple days or more I start feeling out of balance and angry.  Feeling this triggers me to move; I have been known to start doing yoga in the grocery store because I suddeling HAD to.  If I didn't i'd likely snap at someone.  

I like to do my yoga on days that i will have to be around people a lot, like in grocery stores.  It gives me more peace of mind.