paresthesia--vitamin B12 deficiency or MS?

[Violet1717]

I was dxed at age 32 in October 2004 with adult-onset type 1 diabetes. Just days later, I began to feel a sensation like being stuck with a pin in fingers and toes. Location moved around at random & spread in days to include legs, arms, sides, face, mouth, scalp. Occurred most often in feet & hands. Problem was not constant & for many hours of the day I was pain-free. Endoc said I hadn

[lchelsemom]

Hi - just found another site for info on B12 - Mayo Clinic.  You need to search for pernicious anemia.

Linda

[Violet1717]

Linda, thank you, that's very good advice about the MRI.

Clickerz, hi, I'm not an expert on any of this. If you start a new thread by posting a question you may receive an answer from a neurologist. In the meantime, good information on B12 deficiency can be found at the Brain Talk forums (see the link in my message a few above this one) or at these links, which are all articles written by medical professionals:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030301/979.html

http://www.emedicine.com/NEURO/topic439.htm

http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/vitaminb12.html

Good luck to you!

[clickerz]

I dont know if what topic it may fall, from the last weeks i feel a flu like syndrome (got my temp and its normal 36.4  degree to 37),weakness of arms and knee esp. after moving a bowel. I also feels weak,exp. shortness of breathing from time to time and restlessness is it also a sign of b12 defeciency?? im male and have gone some emotional problems a month ago (feels nervous,angry etc.).

[lchelsemom]

OH NO!  Not another possible cause of symptoms!I wish no one else had to go through this but at least I know that I am not alone with my confusion about MS, B12. It just bothers me that I can't get answers about B12 levels and what is causing my levels to go down and why my Dr. doesn't think it is significant.

Anyway, good luck with MRI.  One suggestion - when I first received diagnosis (MS) the Dr. gave me the report to read (that is how I found out).  Anyway, for about 20 years I envisioned my brain full of lesions based upon the report I read.  About 5 years ago I asked my Dr. if I could see MRI and I only have 2 lesion. I was really upset that so many years went by and none of the Drs. I saw (and there were plenty) thought to tell me that to help reduce my anxiety. Y0u might want to ask to see MRI.

[Violet1717]

No answer yet. I hope it hasn't been skipped by accident.

The doc treating me for B12 deficiency is my primary care physician. The reason she tested me for it may be that I asked her to--I had done research before my appointment and knew I needed testing for celiac and B12 def. I'm not sure whether she would have pursued that path had I not asked.

I've also learned since my first post here that she was mistaken about B12 symptoms not moving out of the extremities; they do advance into the trunk at times (this is according to a Mayo Clinic article I read, also a very knowledgable patient at Brain Talk). But what B12 deficiency does not do, as far as I can learn, is produce symptoms that vanish for a while the way mine did after the first attack in November. The symptoms stay the same or worsen until you replenish the vitamin.

That means B12 might not be my problem after all, and that's one reason I'm so anxious for my question here to be addressed. I had an MRI today, so the results of that may provide additional information.

Have also done some fascinating reading on how chronic Lyme disease can mimic MS even in the appearance of lesions on an MRI. There are a number of overlapping symptoms as well. And Lyme can produce symptoms that come and go, again like MS. Since I live in Lyme territory and even had a dog who died of Lyme a couple of years ago, I'm very curious about this possibility. As many as half of Lyme sufferers have no recollection of a tick bite or the characteristic rash, supposedly. So many people who don't think they could have Lyme could.

[lchelsemom]

Curious to know what type of Dr. is treating your B12 defiency?