The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of my Brain, because of low b12. Don't I have a beautiful silhouette? :)UPDATE May 2015: After 2 tears and a half my problems didn't pass completely, so for the last 13 months I've been treating myself for a Cronich Mercury Intoxication, following the Cutler Protocol, that involves taking pills for years at regular intervals of 3-4 hours waking up also at night. Still not sure 100% I'm on the good track, but tens of doctors in 2 countries couldn't find the origin of my problems. So B12 deficiency was actually a consequence and not the primary cause. Now the original article.
Don't worry, despite the title I'm not that bad now! After being diagnosed low b12 levels, I started making vitamin b12 injections, and now my health condition is slowly going back to normality. But last 2 months were definitely not easy for me and Oti: everything started with pins and needles in my left hand and left part of the face, and I thought it was because of the position I was having in front of the PC. But soon instead of getting better, the pins and needles started to extend to the rest of the left part of my body, and then even to the right.
I was feeling numbness in my scalp, in my arms and hands, legs and feet, in my back, in my nose, my butt and even to the tongue! The feeling was changing quite quickly from one part to the other of my body, but it wasn't only that. I had a lot of other symptoms, like burning sensation, green tongue, fatigue, pain to my articulations and bones, headache, flu like symptoms, difficulty to concentrate, lower vision to the left eye, tachycardia, short breath, nausea... Some days I had just to lay on the bed all day long because I couldn't do anything else; when I was able to go out and walk for 10 minutes it was a successful day for me, but this wasn't happening often. The worst of my experience was when I was waking up at night and having strong feeling of numbness at my tongue and sometimes even at my throat: it was like I couldn't feel it anymore and I didn't have control over it, giving me the impression of being suffocated. So I was getting scared and right after was coming tachycardia and short breath: a couple of times I had very strong attacks and I was about to faint. I managed to relax only after long time thanks to the loving help of Oti trying to breathe together with me and to control my heart beat.
As you probably got low B12, doesn't mean something like "it's just a vitamin": It can get serious and it can cause permanent damage to the neurological system, bringing in example to dementia if not treated. And it's not easy to be diagnosed because doctors are ignorant about it and also because a lot other diseases have very similar symptoms, like Multiple Sclerosis of which I was extremely scared at the beginning, until I got the results of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to my brain that excluded neurological damage. So after spending hundreds of euros, going 4 times to 2 different hospitals in 2 different cities, being energetically checked, being treated with presso-puncture, doing different blood tests, after passing to different mis-diagnosis and being cured for magnesium deficiency, circulatory system problems, folic acid anemia and (other) vitamins deficiency eventually we found out that the reason was an extremely low b12 level. So now after 8 vitamin b12 injections in 5 weeks and some extra pills (methyl b12) imported from USA that I took myself in Internet, now my energy is back and I started again to have a normal life, even if I still have some pin and needles, in particular at sleeping time. Because of this Oti learnt to do injections, experimenting with my butt for the first time in her life. Before she found the courage to do it, it was my mother-in-law to take care of my hairy butt, not the best situation as you can imagine. At the same time I had to deal with my family in Italy asking me to go back there to be treated, and me trying to explain my symptoms trying not to worry them too much.
Why do I have low b12 levels? Well, I've been vegetarian (almost vegan) for the last 3 years and I never took care of my b12. And I'm also a carrier of thalassemia minor, that is often related with low b12 levels. But this doesn't mean that meat eaters are not in danger, even if less likely to get sick because vitamin b12 injections are often done also to animals, or supplements are added in their foods. So next time you'll do blood test you might ask to you doctor to include also b12 levels.
Well that's it with the sad part, now we are looking forward and waiting for me to be completely recovered before hitting the road again!
Davide Vadalà
