B12 Deficiency - Vegetarian

[fairyloveheart]

When I saw the neuro for my probs last week she said... "I can tell you are a vegetarian" we will do test for B12 deficiency.

What is this - any ideas? I don't want to visit the google dr as I will stress about that then....

Just wondered if anyone has had/has this and what symptoms this can cause

Thanks

FLH

[AtmoLav]

My girlfriend does. She's been a veggie all her life.

Her symptoms: hair loss, dizziness in the main.

She's now eating fish and is doing much better. She's not the anxious type though, if she feels dizzy she'll just have a glass of wine. Wish I was like her...

[amandaj]

im not a vegetarian and i got vb12 deiciency , so not sure why she that makes a difference i have to have 3 monthly injections for it ive had it 3 years now my symptoms were weight loss dizziness hope you fine out soon

[Deadgirl]

im a vegetarian, i used to be a vegan but im just not a good enough cook and i lost alot of weight, if you take your vitamins or eat properly you should be ok, but some Drs are good at telling if your veggie, i get dizzy spells, i didnt associate it with my diet as i have tinnitus and bad circulation anyway, so i was interested to read this. My boyfriend is also a veggie though and he is ok, i think its mostly down to making sure you eat the right stuff. I will never eat fish. my mams friend had it and she wasnt veggie she started off with injections, but shes ok now, it diet controlled so hopefully youll be ok , take care xxx

[cattttt]

There are two types of B12 deficiancy- one where you don't eat enough of the right things, the other where you are not absorbing it for some reason. My mum had this one and she got dementia. Don't worry about this bit though, if you get tested and have the injections, you wón't get dementia. It takes many years to develop and there is plenty of time for it to be sorted out.
If you are a vegetarian, you need to eat some animal products to get enough B12. I am a vege and make sure I eat eggs, milk and cheese. I also have fish once a week, though I didn't do this for a while and didn't notice any difference. In India, where lots of people are vegetarians, and they are really strict about it-no eggs etc, they don't have any problems because it is reckoned that they get their B12 from bacteria as it is also not very clean.
This is a pet subject of mine, as I've been a vegetarian for a long time and I'm also a believer in "you are what you eat".

[fairyloveheart]

Thanks for the advice. I will await my test results and then I will create an action plan. I don't eat fish or eggs as don't like them, although I eat plenty of cake and cheese! I drink milk, but skimmed, which I read doesn't have much in.

Interesting to hear about India and the way they don't have probs with this there...

You are what you eat indeed. I have a mushroom allergy which rules out quite a lot of products made for veggies, like quorn; so I eat a lot of soya based products and make most of my own dishes.

I have thought about becoming vegan, but think I would miss my cups of tea too much - which sounds indulgent I know. I don't like soya milk.

FLH

[scooby28]

I have just started my B12 injections I eat ok I think meat and fish not so much milk and yogurts, i'm not a vegetarian they never really said why I have got it.
I have started eating some of the Alpro Soya yogurts as this was one of the few foods I found to be labelled up as having B12 in it not sure if it's helping but i'll keep eating them and see if I get any better along with the shots hopefully I will and especially if I can stop stressing.