P
Preston Crawfor
Guest
This is going to be a repost of something I posted elsewhere, so please bear with me, but I figured
it was worth asking people here. I apologize for doing this, but I value the opinions of those here.
Once again, those familiar with my anxiety issues on my California trip or my questions about heart
rate, dehydration and all the other times I've felt odd and not known why will recognize some of
what I'm talking about here.
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I have a strange problem. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I've had problems with
anxiety off and on for the last few years. It's been much worse, though, since I became a
vegetarian. Often the anxiety is related to my health as I've gone from 400lbs to 250lbs in 1.5years
on a vegetarian diet. Recently it resulted in some major anxiety and insomnia. I'm started to get
treated for clinical anxiety, but before I go too far down that path (i.e. before I take the Paxil,
etc.) I have an important question to ask. Ever since I started losing the weight I've had these
anxiety problems, felt a little off. In fact, I've probably felt worse (emotionally, mental acuity,
sleep quality) since becoming a vegetarian. I've never given it much thought, though, and assumed it
was probably just my sleep apnea. I recently got some blood work done, however, that's caused me to
think about a possibility. I'm not saying this is what's happening, but the test was abnormal in
that I had so-so B12, but REALLY high Folic Acid. On the lab report 3 or more (3 of what I can't
remember) was considered normal, but my rating was 21. So I started researching and discovered that
high folic acid can sometimes mask B12 deficiency. So my questions are as follows.
#1 - Is it possible that my numbers of B12 on a standard blood count test
could show up sort of normal, but I could still be B12 deficient?
#2 - If this is possible, what's a reliable test to do to check actual B12
count?
#3 - Since B12 deficiency can cause weight loss is it possible that some
of this weight loss was because of B12 deficiency?
Please don't respond with a reply about how nothing is wrong with a vegetarian diet, because I know
it can happen to people. I'm not saying it happened to me, but before I start letting a
psychiatrist toy with my mind, I'd like to rule this out. Since I take Prilosec (a drug that can
cause B12 deficiency or absorbtion problems) and since I have this high folic acid reading it's
possible it seems.
Any help or advice is appreciated.
Preston
it was worth asking people here. I apologize for doing this, but I value the opinions of those here.
Once again, those familiar with my anxiety issues on my California trip or my questions about heart
rate, dehydration and all the other times I've felt odd and not known why will recognize some of
what I'm talking about here.
------------------------------------------------------
I have a strange problem. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I've had problems with
anxiety off and on for the last few years. It's been much worse, though, since I became a
vegetarian. Often the anxiety is related to my health as I've gone from 400lbs to 250lbs in 1.5years
on a vegetarian diet. Recently it resulted in some major anxiety and insomnia. I'm started to get
treated for clinical anxiety, but before I go too far down that path (i.e. before I take the Paxil,
etc.) I have an important question to ask. Ever since I started losing the weight I've had these
anxiety problems, felt a little off. In fact, I've probably felt worse (emotionally, mental acuity,
sleep quality) since becoming a vegetarian. I've never given it much thought, though, and assumed it
was probably just my sleep apnea. I recently got some blood work done, however, that's caused me to
think about a possibility. I'm not saying this is what's happening, but the test was abnormal in
that I had so-so B12, but REALLY high Folic Acid. On the lab report 3 or more (3 of what I can't
remember) was considered normal, but my rating was 21. So I started researching and discovered that
high folic acid can sometimes mask B12 deficiency. So my questions are as follows.
#1 - Is it possible that my numbers of B12 on a standard blood count test
could show up sort of normal, but I could still be B12 deficient?
#2 - If this is possible, what's a reliable test to do to check actual B12
count?
#3 - Since B12 deficiency can cause weight loss is it possible that some
of this weight loss was because of B12 deficiency?
Please don't respond with a reply about how nothing is wrong with a vegetarian diet, because I know
it can happen to people. I'm not saying it happened to me, but before I start letting a
psychiatrist toy with my mind, I'd like to rule this out. Since I take Prilosec (a drug that can
cause B12 deficiency or absorbtion problems) and since I have this high folic acid reading it's
possible it seems.
Any help or advice is appreciated.
Preston