HealthImportant: These are the warning signs of a vitamin B12 deficiency! 

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