Need to Let Off Steam....

[julesapple]

Thanks Jax.. Susie, huge ((((HUGS)))) you're going through a lot worse than we are. My thoughts are with you.

Sno, I've been researching the B12, so any info is much appreciated. Last Friday the doc told the BH to stop taking the Metformin (which stops B12 being absorbed) and to continue with the B12 sub-lingual that I had bought (1000mcg daily) but he has done the opposite in his confusion. This morning I threw the Met out and almost rammed a Vit B12 under his tongue. Another thing the BH mentioned today is that his mouth is dry and his tongue is sore...a classic B12 deficiency symptom.

My other reasons for suspecting B12 deficiency; The BH took Ranitidine based drugs for over 13 years for acid reflux that we were told was caused by his drugs for his spinal problems. It turned out that nobody had noticed a small gallstone that eventually became so big it filled his gallbladder until it nearly ruptured. So he has no gallbladder and there may have been damage caused to his liver and pancreas during the very protracted op to remove the gallbladder. He has almost all of the symptoms of pernicious anaemia, and these symptoms have all appeared within the last month.

Last night we had more confusion. We were both in the kitchen and I knew I was going to faint (the weather, two ovens going full blast, sodium deficiency, low BP and another factor I won't mention) so I alerted him to the fact that I felt very wobbly, and I sat on the floor. I then passed out. I came round a few minutes later and he wasn't there. I got myself up and he was watching tv!!! I thanked him for his help and he said he left me cos I was safe on the floor and he didn't know what to do. There were two trained first aiders in the living room and he himself is trained but he had forgotten how to respond.
I've never known him to be so thoughtless or vague. He is usually the first person to respond to any situation of that kind, but obviously he is now very confused. There are some concentration issues too; he will turn the tv up very loud if anyone else in the room is talking, however quietly, because he cannot concentrate on the tv and chatting at the same time confuses him. The more we watch him, the more we're realising and, since looking up the B12 deficiency for himself he beginning to see more and more symptoms that he has.

I can't wait to get him sorted out. The DSN did say if he was B12 deficient then it would be a two week course of injections, possibly followed up with two- or three monthly top ups for the rest of his natural. I've dealt with Alzheimer's before, and I don't think the symptoms come on so quickly, so I really don't think it's that. I hope it isn't with all my heart.

I'm finding it very hard to deal with his confusion as I used to depending on him to be the strong silent one.

[snohare]

Well now Jules, that is very interesting. I think you are educating me now.That vagueness and forgetting really well known things describes me with bad "brain fog" to a T...
To give you an example, I used to have a good deal on the rent on my flat, on condition that I went and helped the landlord do up his flat. So I went there frequently - sometimes several times a week. I always had problems remembering which of two adjoining streets his was, and I never could remember the number, whether it was 26 or 28. I had to get there and look at the front door, in order to recognise which one it was.
One day we arranged that I would go there and help him with a job. The door buzzer system wasn't reliable, so when I got no answer I went inside as someone else went out, went up to the appropriate floor, knocked on the door. No answer...so I waited. And waited...for two hours.
I had gone into the wrong tenement, and despite having seen the correct building's interior literally dozens of times, had utterly failed to notice the differences ! I had not even noticed that the interior door I was knocking on was different !
Of course, I had recognised the wrong outside door because I had looked at it so often, it had begun to seem familiar, but even so...!
Afterwards, as usual (for I have a whole list of such tales of absentmindedness), I was kicking myself and thinking, "How on Earth...!"
Now that, I know, was at a time when my energy levels were very low and unpredictable; I literally never knew how fit I would be to do a given thing in the next hour or so. (Used to drive my landlord bananas, I would fail to turn up on time because I was not fit to walk to his until I had rested for a couple of hours. Those uphill streets were a nightmare.) I was also, not to put too fine a point on it, very demoralised and depressed, although when actually fit to do something I came across as cheery and upbeat - because for that moment, I was. Momentum was all that kept me going, but getting it going was like rolling a Sisyphean boulder up a hill.
I had never connected this with B12, but it sounds all very coincidental...all the more because I am exactly the same with intruding noises. I have no TV, but I need complete silence to listen to anything much of the time; one of the reasons that I find my most productive time on the computer is late at night.
When describing my brain fog to people, I usually say, "At its worst, I think it must be very close to being a pensioner who has dementia, it results in many of the same problems".
And folk laugh, because I am a big, strapping muscular guy who though a bit eccentric, is clearly fit and well...

[Jax]

My hubby also has horrid brainfog! I forever find him in the kitchen not knowing what he is doing, we have just ordered his bloods to be done as I think he may be rather alot lower than we had originally thought. He also has sore mouth and tongue, depression, confusion, brain fog, diahorea, rapid weight loss, short fuse. The only thing that he is really struggling with at the moment is that he has terrible pain in his legs, feet, wrists and elbows. I think it is interlinked as I know that b12 can cause low circulation as the red blood cells are enlarged and the pain is in his circulatory points. His veins are also very prominent. This post is actually helping me too as it is confirming alot of my suspicions.

[snohare]

Jax, please note that in most cases B12 deficiency is related to gut and/or digestive problems of some sort, and if your hubby has problems with diarrhoea and rapid weight loss, these are likely to indicate underlying problems which are the cause of B12 deficiency. Any rapid weight loss really needs to be checked out pdq, because apart from vitamin loss, there will be electrolyte imbalances which can have severe long-term deleterious effects on health. (I'm now at the stage that any day I have two attacks of diarrhoea, I am likely to end up resting in bed.)
It may be my experience biasing me here, but I would suggest that the joint pains are likely to be enteropathic arthritis (ie, the immune system attacking the joints as a result of gut problems) rather than circulatory, as the joints themselves have no blood supply. Mouth ulcers (apthous ulcers) are also indicative of Crohn's, although not diagnostic of it. I don't know what the percentage is with other digestive disorders like IBS, IBD, and Ulcerative Colitis, but certainly with Crohn's, having joint pains during a flare up is not that unusual - I sometimes wake and ache all over like someone has been beating me up, every joint just hurts - it's all part of the immune system being overactive. If you have one autoimmune inflammatory disease, it tends to spillover into others as time goes by.
Prominent veins sounds like blood pressure, but frankly I know absolutely nothing at all about that symptom. (Finding one I know nothing of has made my day, thank you ! )

[Jax]

Snohare I am going to PM you, I dont want to take over Jules thread.

[julesapple]

Jax, feel free to add anything you like. It's all good if we're helping each other! I would be prepared to put folding money on your OH having B12 deficiency and possibly Type 2 diabetes. It might be worth you taking at look here to see if anything rings a bell.

[Headfry]

I am so sorry Jules.... all I have to offer are big hugs, I know they wont mend things for you, but they are sent with love. I as today passes please remember that someone is thinking of you........me!
HF
x

[julesapple]

Well, he's just gone off to have bloods taken. He said he didn't need me to go with him. It's our DSN who's taking the bloods - hope he remembers to tell her about his sore toe (got to be careful with foot problems if you're diabetic)

The doctor said it'll be another fortnight before she can review them, but I'm hoping she might get round to it sooner. The results could be back tomorrow - mine often are - but I expect it depends how long the tests take to carry out.

Oh well...fingers crossed! (meanwhile I'll try and fill him full of B12)

[julesapple]

What are like down there? The BH went round to the surgery for his 9.40 appt only to be told when he got there that it was 10.40. Unfortunately he'd left his appt card behind, so he couldn't wave it under their noses because they've written down 9.40am, Monday May 28th.

So cross making! They've been mucking the DD about and she was a week late getting her contraceptive jab.

[alldigging]

What are like down there? The BH went round to the surgery for his 9.40 appt only to be told when he got there that it was 10.40. Unfortunately he'd left his appt card behind, so he couldn't wave it under their noses because they've written down 9.40am, Monday May 28th.

So cross making! They've been mucking the DD about and she was a week late getting her contraceptive jab.

Grr.

Take the card in and speak to the practice manager. The last thing someone with memory worries needs is this sort of additional stress.

[julesapple]

Took the card in when we went back at 10.30. The receptionist just shrugged, apparently a temp made the appt and she doesn't know how the system works.

I went with him this time, and I'm glad I did. We didn't see the DSN until 10.45, and the BH passed out when she took his blood. He didn't feel the needle, but happened to glance round when she was withdrawing the last phial with the needle. Luckily the chair he was sitting in was against a wall, and I could hold him upright whilst the nurse panicked and ran for the doctor. I grabbed his kit and did his bloods and he wasn't hypo but he hadn't eaten for almost 15 hours because of their mix up with the appts. They gave him glucose anyway, so I'm waiting for a hyper now....

When he'd come round we got him moved to the examination couch thingy, and laid him with his head right down below his legs. Why doesn't the doctor know how to work the beds? A doctor and a nurse and they were both flapping. Um....what do we do? What do we do? Sheesh. I made a cold compress out of some of the blue paper towel roll wetted in the sink and fanned him with a booklet I grabbed, but apart from making sure he won't injure himself coming round, all you can do is watch and wait but you must watch.

I'm still waiting for him to feel better. I've got him home, made him tea & spelt bread toast and we're just waiting for them to get working on his system. Poor bgger. That's frightened the life out of him. Next time he goes for bloods I'm going and he can lay on the couch before they take any.

[Jax]

oh gosh Jules, what a rotten morning. Fingers crossed you have a relaxing afternoon. My OH has had a b12 anemia before but the doc never done a follow up. In honesty I dont think he ever left anemic level but the main symptom faded so we assumed they were better. I feel terrible for not noticing, I just presumed it was stress inflicted These husbands of ours are hard work hey Jules?!?!

[julesapple]

This one's certainly putting me through my paces.....

He's better now. We monitored his bloods every half hour and they climbed steadily for about three hours then started to drop. As they dropped he felt better, but he was nauseous all afternoon and had severe leg pains. A member of the Diabetes forum has explained what happened, so we can make sense of it now.

I'm still a bit shocked that the nurse and the doctor didn't know how to treat a faint. The Nurse shouted to get the doctor and the doctor said 'What do we do?' Afterwards, I hope they went and did some revision.......

[rustylady]

This one's certainly putting me through my paces.....

He's better now. We monitored his bloods every half hour and they climbed steadily for about three hours then started to drop. As they dropped he felt better, but he was nauseous all afternoon and had severe leg pains. A member of the Diabetes forum has explained what happened, so we can make sense of it now.

I'm still a bit shocked that the nurse and the doctor didn't know how to treat a faint. The Nurse shouted to get the doctor and the doctor said 'What do we do?' Afterwards, I hope they went and did some revision.......

Jules you're worrying me. Do you have an alternative doctor's surgery?

[Jax]

I also find that shocking! I am glad someone has managed to give you some info on what happened and hopefully things will get abit better now.