vitamin b12

It can have so many consequences for your physical and mental health!

Are you feeling a little low on energy lately? You might not immediately think of a vitamin deficiency. But an untreated vitamin deficiency, like vitamin B12, can have a lot of consequences for your health!

Vitamin B12 is essential for your nerve system’s health, your immune system and the formation of your DNA.

Vitamin B12
Normally, your body has enough B12 to last you three to ten years. But if this stockpile of B12 gets exhausted, the B12 level in your blood will go down and you’ll develop a deficiency. Since this deficiency doesn’t arise all of a sudden, you won’t be able to fix it in one day either. It’s difficult to diagnose a vitamin B12 deficiency; the vague symptoms often correspond to other conditions as well. But what exactly do these symptoms consist of anyway?

Symptoms
Because vitamin B12 is essential on a couple of different levels, the symptoms can vary a lot per patient. The symptoms can be roughly divided into three categories: neurological, psychological, and ‘other symptoms’.

Neurological

Tingling feeling, numbness, burning feeling in arms, legs, hands or feet, nerve pain
Concentration and memory problems
Aphasia: not being able to think of the right words; using the wrong words
Ataxia: falling down for no reason, walking into things, having trouble walking, overturning objects
Reduced pain perception, fine motor skills, and sense of smell and taste

Psychological

Depression, nervousness, irritability, mood swings, changes in behaviour, apathy
Dementia, confusion
Psychosis, paranoia, hallucinations

Other symptoms

Muscle pain and weakness
A sore and red tongue
Fatigue, lethargy, feeling faint
Feeling nauseated, loss of appetite, weight loss
Problems with menstruation: absence of menstruation, heavy menstruation, menstruation lasting too long, increased pain
Joint problems
Breathlessness, heart palpitations
Dizziness, vertigo
Pale skin
Feeling cold
Impotence
Infertility
Hair loss
Disturbed vision
Digestion problems
Incontinence or having to pee often
Headaches
Abnormal reflexes
Muscle twitching and cramps
Tinnitus