What seems like a disease could in fact be one of many health issues resulting from low vitamin B12 levels. Yes, Really.
There are over a billion nerves in your body. For each of them to be healthy, from the largest to the tiniest, you need healthy vitamin B12 levels.
Without healthy B12 levels it may seem as if you have a disease.
How does low vitamin B12 affect nerves?
The image above shows only the largest of the billion plus nerves in your body. For each of your nerves to be healthy, work properly, and not cause pain, you need healthy vitamin B12 levels. When your B12 levels slip, low vitamin B12 health issues begin to appear.
One of the most devastating low vitamin B12 health issues, over time, is deteriorating myelin sheathing. Vitamin B12 protects the myelin sheathing so that nerve impulses don’t leak out and impair your muscle control, as well as cause pain.
Low vitamin B12 can cause burning pain in peripheral nerves like those in your thighs, numbness due to impaired nerves in your feet and hands, blurry vision by way of less-than-healthy optic nerves, loss of balance, inability to find the right word because your cerebellum is starved for B12, and so forth.
This clever, interactive map of nerves in the human body gives medical names to the main nerves.
Knowing whether your B12 level is high enough for your nerves to be healthy and happy is somewhat tricky. That’s because a “normal” vitamin B12 level is often defined in terms of what’s too low for red blood cells to be able to divide properly.
The thing is, red blood cells are happy right down to a B12 level of 200. Nerve cells, on the other hand, have problems like memory loss at levels of 500-550.
Learn about healthy vitamin B12 levels to live pain free, with a good memory.
Vitamin B12 and your blood system
Vitamin B12 is vitally important to your circulatory system.
Red blood cells get overly large when there isn’t enough vitamin B12. Instead of dividing properly and letting go of their nucleus they retain their nucleus, leaving little room for the oxygen they’re meant to carry to every part of your body. Without sufficient oxygen your hands and/or feet begin to feel numb.
It’s hardly surprising that for most doctors the visible evidence under a microscope of an oxygen-
For over a century “modern medicine” has ignored neurological symptoms from low vitamin B12 levels and diagnosed “vitamin B12 deficiency” only when there was anemia shown by abnormally large red blood cells.
Methyl-B12 1,000 mcg 100 lozenges
Vitamin B12 deficiency is defined in the United States and some other countries as a vitamin B12 level lower than 200 pmol/mL. 200 is the level at which large red blood cells begin to appear.
But, well before a red blood cell problem exists many people experience depression, impaired memory, difficulty finding the right word. All of these begin to appear at vitamin B12 levels of 500-550.
Some specific low vitamin B12 health issues
Malabsorption ~ Without enough stomach acid your body can’t free B12 from protein. You can eat healthy yet suffer from malnutrition. How can this happen? Read More.
Numbness ~ Many people find my site using the search terms “numb” or “numbness.” Some search with the question, “Can you get rid of numb feet?” I answer that with three things I know about numbness. Read More.
Other Low Vitamin B12 Health Issues
Allergies and BComplex Vitamins ~ From the beginning my allergies were linked to stress. My grandfather was sure I’d grow out of them by the time I got married, but they didn’t subside until I experimented with foods and vitamins. Read More.
Diarrhea, low B12, and h.pylori ~ Diarrhea is a persistent, common problem for many people with low vitamin B12 levels. While you may be familiar with diarrhea, you may know little or nothing about h.pylori which can cause low B12. Read More.
High Homocysteine ~ Homocysteine, discovered in 1932, is an amino acid, but not the good, building block kind.
High Homocysteine linked to heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, depression, birth defects
A combination of folic acid and vitamin B12 is effective in lowering homocysteine levels. Read More.
Common Symptoms of Low Vitamin B12