Nurse one
My lovely mum is a retired District Nurse. Her job involved giving B12 injections to her patients at 3 monthly intervals.

My grandma had a diagnosis of PA (pernicious anaemia) and mum would recognise when she was ready for her next injection.

Mum had zero formal training in B12 deficiency but was an excellent caring nurse who always put her patients first.

Nurse two
This nurse is a Practice Nurse who administers B12 injections.

She uses some of her time to diligently count up the days so that the patient can have their B12 injections at exactly 3 monthly intervals, not before, never before.

This nurse has also had zero formal training in B12 deficiency but has been told incorrect information about B12 deficiency.  She may also be an excellent nurse.

Resistance
My mum follows rules, she likes to get things right. When she saw fit she would challenge decisions made by doctors for the patients she knew and understood. 

My mum was not fully onboard with B12 deficiency at the beginning of my journey in early 2012. There was part of her that didn’t and couldn’t fully believe that B12 deficiency might be the root cause of our loved one’s symptoms. Her training was also, naturally, taking her down a different path.

She saw the resistance I was up against with doctors and worried about my challenging their knowledge because her belief lay somewhere else. Mum in part, sided with the professionals whilst trying to support me.

This was tough for mum. Her training as a nurse meant that in this situation she felt subordinate, that the doctors knew best, that their expertise should be respected and that if you’re told NO then you should accept that and shut up. I couldn’t accept the many NO’s I was getting.

If I’m told no and I know that that no is wrong, I will not give up trying to get a YES. This causes problems for those around me who are not on the same page. It made people angry and it isolated me, that isolation is uncomfortable and lonely.

I have bored many of my family and friends to tears about B12 deficiency. I have been told to shut up so many times BUT when you know something is not right how can you not carry on?

In the beginning
I had identified what I thought were B12 deficiency symptoms in my mum right at the beginning but mum attributed all of them to other causes. I used to ask her “what if your breathing improved with B12?” With an exasperated sigh she would say “well it can’t can it? I’ve had this all my life”.

To shut me up she had a serum B12 test which came back ‘within range’. Her GP was willing to talk to me about this but at the time mum was still resistant so it didn’t happen.
I knew that both mum and I had methylation issues and that dad had them too so mum’s attitude was beyond frustrating.

Light at the end of the tunnel?
Mum had met Sally Pacholok and saw her speak at our 2016 conference. From then she really understood B12 deficiency but still did not accept that it affected her too. Her GP said that her serum B12 result at 323ng/nl and a folate level of 3.3ng/nl was fine.

Mum’s symptoms, to me, were like flashing beacons growing bigger and bigger every day.

Spring 2018
This was a very difficult time for our family and I became increasingly worried about mum’s health and well being. She finally allowed me to get involved and I wrote to her GP on her behalf telling her of the family history, which included me, my siblings, aunt, uncle and grandma, at this point.

I detailed mum’s signs and symptoms which included ;
Breathlessness
Depression
Apathy
Bladder problems
Tachycardia
Exhaustion
Insomnia
Sluggish thyroid
Osteoporosis
Methylation issues.

I provided documents from  Point 4 of the What to do next page which show the inaccuracies of the serum B12 test and I also supplied mum’s methylation profile.

I asked if mum could have a trial of B12 injections and we waited.

Breakthrough
After a short phone conversation with mum, the GP booked her in for loading doses.

I’d discovered early on that I can’t tolerate folic acid and chances were that since half my methylation issues came from mum she may not tolerate it either. Mum’s folate level was well below range at 2, however the nurse told her with absolute confidence that there was no need to supplement this!

Mum started taking methylfolate. She had her injections booked for the week ahead and took methylfolate every day with no ill effect. She said she felt no different at all for the first couple of days and then…….the change was incredible. She felt brighter, she looked brighter, she smiled. And all this improvement even before B12 injections.

Starting the loading doses then had a further profound effect, this flowering of my mum was absolutely fantastic to see.

She was able to breathe easier, she could garden in the extreme heat the UK had last year without having to take a break every ten minutes. The depression and apathy lifted. So many surprising things improved for mum, things she thought were totally unrelated. This was the mum I knew was in there, but couldn’t get out.

Mum said she could never remember feeling so well. She began to ask for the journals and information I had sent to her in the past as she now wanted to learn from them.

“I wish I’d let you do this 6 years ago” said mum.

I was beside myself hearing these words.

Having mum on board is fantastic, I am proud to say she is banging on the very same drum as me now!

I know mum is proud of the work I do but she didn’t fully understand it until she actually experienced the magic of feeling so well once you have the right level of the vital nutrients you’re lacking.

Incorrect treatment
After loading doses the GP asked to see mum, who was primed to make sure that the GP understood that mum was neurologically affected and would need to stay on the loading dose frequency for as long as it took for symptoms to stop improving.
Mum called me to say that I’d be disappointed, that the GP said she’d see her in three months for her maintenance dose, but that she wanted to buy B12 from abroad and self treat as another family member does, because she did not want her health to deteriorate as she had never felt so well.

I was not disappointed. I understand the difficulty patients feel in trying to point their GP’s toward the correct treatment regime. I was however ecstatic that this time mum knew that the GP was incorrect and she wanted to keep herself well.

Ignorance and threat
I am very lucky, my GP prescribes my B12 weekly, many others are not in this situation and this needs to change. I want all of us to be treated as individuals by our GP’s and not have vital treatment restricted due to lack of education and restrictive guidance.

Mum bought her B12 ampoules safely and cheaply from an online pharmacy. She found that in the three months running up to her appointment with the nurse she was doing well on a weekly injection.

Twenty minutes before mum was due to have her B12 injection from the Practice, she was phoned by a nurse who informed her that the appointment had been cancelled as she had counted up and found that the booking was 3 days early! She also stated (incorrectly) that it was dangerous to have too much B12. The nurse told her it would have to be arranged for the following week and she hoped it wasn’t inconvenient.

By this time, my mum has found her voice. She stated that yes it was inconvenient but she would give herself her own injection and see her the next week.

This nurse, worried by what she’d been told, took that information to the GP and mum received the letter below:

Resolution and kindness
Following receipt of this letter mum asked if I would go to the appointment with her, and of course I agreed – however I felt that if we emailed first it could help not only mum, but others at the Practice too.

This is the text from the email mum sent:

A three week wait eventually resulted in the best out come possible…….

The GP called and thanked mum for her email and for the information telling mum;
“I want to provide your weekly B12 ampoules for you to manage at home so please come and collect your prescription from us.”

Thank you…
Thank you to the nurse who prompted this action, her reporting of the issue yielded a great opportunity for learning and a brilliant outcome for mum.

Thank you to the GP who treats mum as an individual.

Thanks to all those GP’s who are now listening and who are changing the lives of those that they care for.

Thank you to my mum for finally letting me interfere.

And thank you to Damian who has been with me every step of the way.

Best wishes
Tracey
www.b12info.com

If folic acid doesn’t suit you, there are alternatives; In the UK folinic acid could be prescribed by your GP but not methylfolate. Remember we are all different so what suits me, may not suit you.