The Hidden Thief: How Vitamin B12 Deficiency Mimics Chronic Disease

It affects your nerves, causes neuropathy. You can have numbness, tingling, burning in your hands and feet. It looks identical to diabetic neuropathy. And the patients walk into my office with burning feet and the previous doctor said, you have diabetes and maybe it's okay, maybe you have diabetic neuropathy. But if we connect the dots and replace your vitamin B12, your symptoms could be much better and it could be the both the things affecting your nerves. So you cannot tell without a blood work for B12 what is causing those symptoms. Now, B12 also affects your brain. B12 deficiency causes brain fog, memory problems, trouble with concentration. It can look like early dementia. In its most severe form, damage to the nervous system can become permanent. I have seen patients sent to neurologists for cognitive workup when the answer was vitamin that costs pennies to replace.