Any info about vitamin B12 please

[AJW]

Hi is there anyone out there that could give me any info on vit b12, I had a resection in jan this year and my surgeon never told me whether or not she also removed my ileum. I went back for a check up and a different registrar looked at my notes and said that i had had it removed. Since i have yet to have my first appt with a gastro specialist i have yet to have this confirmed and had no advice about it.
Recently i have been experiencing extreme tiredness and headaches and was wondering whether my symptoms could be related to vit b12 deficiency
any thoughts on this would be grateful
thank you
amanda

 

[David]

Hi Amanda,

Vitamin B12 (click that for more info) is absorbed in the terminal ileum which is the last part of the small intestines just before the large intestine. It's the most common place Crohn's Disease manifests and often a part of it is surgically removed. Not everyone who has surgery becomes deficient in vitamin B12, but MANY do. Part of the problem is many aren't told about the potential for deficiency and feel fine for awhile (the body can store up to 5 years worth of B12 in the liver but most Crohnies have stores of significantly less or none) so when symptoms of deficiency do develop, they don't correlate it with the surgery and it takes awhile to figure out what's going on.

There are many potential causes of headaches and extreme tiredness. The most common for people with Crohn's Disease are vitamin B12 deficiency, anemia, dehydration, medication side effects, or a combination thereof. But yes, it would be a very good idea to get your B12 levels tested and get the actual number so you can start tracking it. Let me know if you have more questions, I can talk about vitamins and minerals all day, especially B12