A vitamin B12 deficiency can have many causes, from poor diet to medications used to treat polycystic ovaries. See what symptoms you can have when the intake of vitamin B12 is not enough!
Causes for a vitamin B12 deficiency
As we age, the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12 from food decreases. According to studies, 4 out of 100 women over 40 are deficient in vitamin B12 and many others are at the limit of their reserves.
But age is not the only cause: the lack of meat in the diet, some drugs, such as those for type 2 diabetes or for the treatment of polycystic ovaries, increase the risk of suffering such a deficiency. And the lack of vitamin B12 in the body can have all kinds of effects, from severe fatigue to serious vision problems.
The importance of vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 helps develop and maintain the nervous system, DNA production and red blood cell formation, stimulates appetite, increases physical and mental performance, prevents fat accumulation in the liver and prevents atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.
If you experience any of the symptoms below, see your doctor for a blood test to see if this is the cause.
Unusual symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency
You can barely keep your eyes open at lunch, even though you sleep 8 hours a night
Severe fatigue is the first sign of vitamin B12 deficiency, because the body relies on vitamin B12 to produce erythrocytes (red blood cells), which carry oxygen to all your organs. And without enough oxygen in your cells, you feel tired no matter how many hours you manage to sleep.
And because fatigue is a symptom of many conditions, you can’t be sure that a lack of vitamin B12 is the cause, so your doctor will try to find out if you have other associated symptoms and will also recommend a blood test to check possible deficiencies.
Your office bag seems heavy as a millstone
Although you only have bits in it and its weight wasn’t an issue until recently. The same is true for the shopping bag that only has a loaf of bread, a few tomatoes and a carton of milk in it, for example. If the muscles do not receive enough oxygen from the blood, it is natural to feel a pronounced weakness.
If you have a demanding job and you think this is the cause of your physical exhaustion, take a few days off and rest. If after that things do not change, it means that a possible cause may be a lack of vitamin B12, so go to the doctor.
Do you experience bizarre sensations? Lack of vitamin B12 can be the cause!
You feel that sometimes a small electric current passes through your body. Or tingling and pricking. Or unexplained numbness. All these can be the result of damage to some nerve endings, determined by the low level of oxygen in the cells.
This kind of sensation should immediately send you to a check-up, because, beyond a possible vitamin B12 deficiency, these symptoms can hide much more serious diseases.
You put your car keys in the fridge
Or you go to your colleague’s office to go to the table and when you get to her you forget why you came. Before you worry about Alzheimer’s, go get some blood tests.
If it turns out that the lack of vitamin B12 is the cause of your unexplained memory loss, a course of this vitamin, in the amount prescribed by the doctor, will solve the problem quite quickly.
Lack of vitamin B12 – smooth and red tongue
More than half of patients with severe vitamin B12 deficiency lose their tongue papillae, especially those on the edges. Patients also complain of burning sensation and irritation. And since most papillae contain receptors for taste, if you lose many of them, even the most delicious food will seem bland.
Studies have shown that people with vitamin B12 deficiency significantly lose weight, because the taste of food no longer seems appetizing.
