Test Results

My theory that “no news means good news” when it comes to test results proved to be slightly flawed in that it doesn’t take into account when it’s actually “no news means your doctor just hasn’t had time to check the results yet.” At any rate, my GP rang me on Wednesday to tell the blood tests I had done a while ago had shown my B12 is quite low. I think you’re supposed to feel upset when you’re told there’s something new wrong with you, but honestly I just felt happy that it wasn’t anything more serious and that for once it's something easily solvable.

It always cracks me up that on the occasions I’ve gotten a phone call about tests results, I’ve always been doing something inappropriate considering what they’re telling me. When they rang to tell me I had coeliac disease, I was eating a box of whole-wheat crackers. When it was about my kidney function going south, my mum and I were making vodka cocktails (it was Christmas Eve, don’t judge!) And this time I’d just put some chicken back in the fridge in favour of making something vegan for dinner.

I know probably I don’t eat enough meat considering I already have iron-deficient anaemia, but the B12 is more likely low because of my stomach’s fun habit of deciding it doesn’t want to absorb food anymore. After a long time of my weight staying stable, some of the gut issues have reappeared and that has resulted in a couple of kilos disappearing again. I’ve been able to keep my iron levels normal with tablets, but given the weight loss at the moment, my GP decided to go straight to a B12 injection to give the best chance of it being absorbed.

I wrote this when I was five. I assume I’d just had my vaccinations (not entirely sure what the nutty friend part is about) but it did make me laugh how almost prophetic this statement is. As a five year old doing my best to avoid having any shots done, I don’t think I ever would have imagined someday I’d be injecting myself with medication every week, having regular blood tests, and occasional extra IM shots like this one, but there you go. I’m pretty blasé about needles these days, so agreed to let a student nurse do her first injection on me. She actually did an amazing job, and I barely even felt it. Fun times!  

A quick google search told me that a lot of issues I’ve been having lately, including the irregular heart rate, could be down to the B12, though there seem to be varying accounts of how long it takes for symptoms to appear. Most say there are various symptoms (the ones I’ve been experiencing) that can appear in the first few years, then a whole lot of much more serious ones that appear the longer you are deficient, so thankfully this should stop it progressing to that. I’ve also heard completely opposing stories from people as to whether they felt amazing straight away after the injection, whether it took them a couple of weeks to notice a difference, or whether they felt nothing at all.

So far I haven’t noticed any major change, but it’s only been a couple of days so I’m keeping my fingers crossed I’m in the better-after-a-little-while camp.

Thanks for reading,

Little Miss Autoimmune