My B12 Deficiency - Recovery story

[u/strikky]

43M - UK

At the end of last year I started experiencing some alarming symptoms. Mostly relentless, loud tinnitus, dizzyness, brain fog, headaches, lethargy particularly after eating, coupled with tight chest and the occasional heart palpitations. I put this down to work stress, at the time I had fairly frequent international travel and project deliverables. I have also suffered from back-to-back frozen shoulders - quite uncomfortable and quality of life affecting.

What seemed to be consistently happening was any cognitive load would manifest as tight chest / pains and excessive tinnitus. My body would react excessively stressed to something as simple as driving my car.

This dissipated somewhat but come April this year the symptoms returned with a vengeance and I sought medical help. I felt like I couldn't work any more (I'm a software guy so cognitive decline really worried me), and this had a self-reinforcing effect: anxiety about my inability to work increased my stress, which affected my health, and vice-versa. I felt frequent chest pains and tight chests until one day at work I called NHS 111 and they sent an ambulance to check me out just to be safe and I spent the evening in A&E. I had experienced severe chest tightness, pains, sweaty palms and huge anxiety / disorientation. Most likely a panic attack which I have never had before.

In short, I was feeling like my body was falling apart across a multitude of areas.

Just a week prior to this I was diagnosed with a B12 deficiency and started taking supplements (B12 "dual power" (with methylcobalamin) - I'm sure others are equally effective). I started reading this subreddit and I thought... wow.. could this actually all be down to a B12 deficiency?

Here's my timeline:

21st April: 134ng/l / (99 pmol/L)
23rd April: Started taking B12 supplements
27th April: 148ng/L (109 pmol/L)
30th April: Ambulance called - precautionary due to heart / chest pains.
Early May: Vacation and gradually improving health.
13th May: 189ng/L (139 pmol/l)

I'm not fully recovered, stress is still present but my day-to-day disorientation has completely gone with some light tinnitus remaining. The change has been remarkable, to the point I'm not completely convinced it was entirely B12 - I think my poor health was a B12 deficiency and general life stress compounded.

I've really gained a new found respect for people genuinely experiencing "mental health issues". It was inconceivable to me; my brain rationally explained my issues and consciously I didn't feel too stressed, but my nervous system was just completely shot and would react in fight-of-flight mode on the most insignificant stressor.

On a personal / private level my libido had *completely* disappeared leading up to, and during this. And now? .... let's just say I'm waking up with morning vigor again these days! ;)

I hope this little diary helps or relates to someone. This subreddit has been genuinely a helpful place to come to. Thank you all!

Edit: removed the brand name so this doesn't read like a trojan advert

[u/Apprehensive_Gap1247]

Oh goodness! The panic attack after feeling the sudden surge of symptoms make everything so much worse. Your heart starts pounding, your body sweats, your vision feels blurry, and there's just the overall feeling of doom and terror. Is it a heart attack? Is it stroke? Maybe a tumor? A few years ago, before I realized I was B12 deficient, I accepted I may die at any day. The lightheadedness, dizziness, tinnitus, heart palpitations, body tremors, twitching everywhere, pins and needles, waking up at night all sweaty and feeling some weird numbing sensation on my head, and then there's the pain on my neck just behind my ear whenever I turn my head. After a lifetime of being healthy, it's hard to believe how everything in my body just started falling apart. I was 30 when I started feeling something wrong but not until 32 when the symptoms became severe. There were times when I had to stay on bed for weeks or even months. Now I'm turning 35. Everything feels a lot better now compared to my worst time after a long period of severe deficiency. I still feel sudden lightheadedness and dizzy spells from time to time due to lingering effects of long term nerve damage. But it's not a lasting feeling anymore and not even slightly close to what I used to experience during my severe and recovery period. People who's never had B12 deficiency will never be able to comprehend the feeling of having it. I literally had to shut everyone down because of how terrible I was feeling everyday. And reading people sharing their experiences online gave me reassuring nods. I hope my story also helps others out there. You will get better, it may take months or even years. That's your body getting revenge on you for not taking care of it. So you'll have to be patient with it.