Martyn Hooper

I received a telephone call from a university student who has been diagnosed as having B12 Deficiency.  She asked all of the usual questions and told me that although she has been identified as being deficient the doctor at the university was not concerned as to the cause of the deficiency.  I explained that the test used was next to useless and that as long as she got adequate treatment then the cause of the deficiency was not that important as the treatment would be the same.  I took the call before Christmas and yesterday she phone to say that she was at home and had gone to her usual family GP.  He has prescribed her weekly injections and has arranged for the nurse to show the young lady how to self inject.

I told her that she was very fortunate in having such an understanding doctor but she was more concerned about the cause of the deficiency – “It’s so frustrating” she told me.  I replied that having to wait three months for injections would be much more frustrating.  I told her that her doctor should be congratulated.  “He’s German” she told me.

This morning I had another telephone call from the distressed daughter of a 93 yr old lady who has been diagnosed as having Pernicious Anaemia four years ago. She has been having monthly injections and managing quite well on them. In August she had her blood tested. Guess what? Yup – she was told her B12 levels were now healthy and a test last week showed they were still healthy. And she hasn’t had an injections since August. “I can tell that my mother is deteriorating rapidly” her daughter told me. I tried to speak to the lady’s doctor but he wasn’t available.

UPDATE

I had an email from the patient’s daughter -this is what she wrote:

Just had a phone call from Mum’s surgery from Dr. L who was her doctor before he retired (Dr. A is her new doctor).  He said the reason they postponed her B12 injections was because in August when they did the blood test her level was over 1,000, (so in actual fact it must have been July when Mum had her last injection as it was a month after that she had the blood test).  He said that level was too high so they waited for it to go down a bit before giving her more injections.  I did say that it was bound to be high if a blood test was taken only a month after the injection (no comment).  In November the level was 638 he said.  He asked why she didn’t say she was feeling low!!!!!  I told him she rang twice last week for a home visit and was fobbed off by the nurse (no comment).  Anyway the upshot is that he said if she can get herself down to the surgery tomorrow, she can have the injection – halleluia!  He then said they usually do B12 injections every 3 months!  It appears that if she wants a home visit that would take a bit longer to organise so best to strike while the iron’s hot and try to make her own way there.

Anyway, Mum has arranged for a taxi to take her to the surgery tomorrow afternoon and the taxi will pick her up a bit later, the appointment has been made for the injection and everything……..

Just hope now that we never have a repeat of this again.

I would like to thank you again very much for your kind help and assistance.  I don’t know what I’d have done without your advice.  Good result!

Last week I was telephoned by a lady from Scotland who had been to see a Haematologist who had instructed her GP to provide monthly injections. The lady – we’ll call her Sue – was still suffering and so she had bought Hydroxocobalamin from an online store (NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL) and had been giving herself weekly injections. She mentioned this to her GP whom she had visited about another medical problem quite unrelated to her Pernicious Anaemia. He stopped her in mid sentance and ordered her out of the surgery. “I’ve never seen anyone so angry” she told me. An hour later the GP ‘phoned her and told her that, whatever the Haematologist says, she was now back on the old regime of an injection every three months.
Always consult your GP before beginning a new treatment regime…..