Approximately 5.8 million people within the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, causing these life-altering diseases to have a widespread impact nationwide. Although it might probably be devastating when a loved one shows signs of memory loss, doctors say you should not mechanically assume they’ve dementia.
Several aspects may cause an individual to experience classic signs of dementia, including a scarcity of vitamin B12. “Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to cognitive impairment, including impaired thinking,” says Dr. Scott Kaiser, geriatrician and director of Geriatric Cognitive Health on the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California. “This can certainly mimic signs of dementia.”
Combine that with the indisputable fact that older adults are more likely They have difficulty fully absorbing vitamin B12, putting them vulnerable to deficiency, and doctors say vitamin B12 deficiency must be on the radar, a minimum of in individuals with older relatives. Unlike dementia, this can be a health problem that will be reversed.
But what does a vitamin B12 deficiency seem like and the way can it’s distinguished from dementia? Doctors explain.
What is Vitamin B12?
Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that happens naturally in some foods, although it’s also available as a dietary complement and prescription medicine, in accordance with the magazine National Institutes of Health (NIH). This vitamin helps your body make DNA and in addition plays a task in the event and performance of the central nervous system, which incorporates the brain and spinal cord.
Your body cannot make vitamin B12 by itself, so it’s essential to get it from external sources comparable to meat, dairy, eggs, fortified foods and supplements, in accordance with the NIH. Most adults need 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day, although levels are barely higher while pregnant and breastfeeding.
Causes of vitamin B12 deficiency
There are a couple of explanation why someone might develop a vitamin B12 deficiency. A vegan weight loss plan for years is an enormous challenge, he says Deborah Cohen, DCN, an associate professor within the Department of Clinical and Preventive Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University School of Health Professions. “Humans can store a small amount of vitamin B12,” so it might probably take some time for a deficiency to turn into noticeable, she says.
But Cohen says there are a lot of other risk aspects for vitamin B12 deficiency, including years of taking the diabetes drug metformin and certain gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) medications, comparable to proton pump inhibitors. “These drugs reduce the secretion of intrinsic factor – a protein secreted by cells in the stomach that is essential for transporting B12 from the stomach to the last part of the small intestine, where it is absorbed,” explains Cohen.
People who’ve had stomach surgery for weight reduction, older adults and other people with gastrointestinal diseases comparable to Crohn’s disease and celiac disease are also vulnerable to B12 deficiency, she says.
Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency
According to doctors, vitamin B12 deficiency has some typical symptoms:
- Lack of energy
- Mental fatigue
- Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
- weight reduction
- Yellowish skin
“B12 is essential for energy production,” says Dr. Amit Sachdev, Medical Director of the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University. “The most common manifestation of B12 deficiency is fatigue.” He says fatigue and related symptoms will be confused with symptoms of depression and dementia.
People with vitamin B12 deficiency may act forgetful and confused and have difficulty concentrating and completing tasks, says Kaiser. More severe vitamin B12 deficiency may cause delusions and paranoia. “This could be similar to dementia,” says Kaiser.
How to acknowledge a vitamin B12 deficiency from dementia symptoms
Doctors say it’s difficult to find out whether an individual has a vitamin B12 deficiency or dementia during a physical exam. “There is no way to tell the difference [cognitive] Symptoms,” says Parul M Goyal, MD., assistant professor of medication at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and director of senior medicine at Vanderbilt One Hundred Oaks.
However, gastrointestinal symptoms that began around the identical time as cognitive problems could raise the doctor’s suspicion of a vitamin B12 deficiency, says Sachdev. “The combination of physical and cognitive changes is an important indication that a treatable cause such as B12 deficiency may be the problem,” he says.
This is how you’ll be able to recognize a vitamin B12 deficiency
If a physician suspects a vitamin B12 deficiency, he or she’s going to often order a blood test to ascertain the patient’s vitamin B12 levels, says Kaiser. However, low levels of vitamin B12 don’t mechanically mean that an individual’s symptoms are because of a deficiency.
“B12 deficiency is also more common in people with Alzheimer’s disease, so two things could be present,” says Kaiser. Therefore, doctors often recommend taking a vitamin B12 complement and seeing what happens. “If you treat vitamin B12 deficiency and the symptoms improve, you can better identify the cause,” says Kaiser.
But Sachdev says it should never come to this if your beloved often visits the hospital ward and gets blood tests done. “Routine laboratory monitoring of B12 during well inspections is the most common method of detecting a deficiency,” he says.
What to do if a loved one has dementia-like symptoms?
If your beloved is showing signs of dementia, doctors emphasize the importance of seeing a physician for an evaluation. “Many people avoid testing because they mistakenly assume that these memory changes are normal as we age, but that’s not a helpful assumption,” says Kaiser. “There’s a misconception that we can’t do anything about it – that’s not true.”
Once you receive an evaluation, a physician will typically order a blood test to find out whether there may be a vitamin B12 deficiency, together with other potential aspects that could possibly be causing dementia-like symptoms, says Sachdev. If your beloved does indeed have a vitamin B12 deficiency, they may likely be prescribed oral or intramuscular supplements, says Sachdev. If they’re taking a drugs that could be the reason behind the deficiency, comparable to a proton pump inhibitor or metformin, a physician might recommend trying a special kind of medication, says Goyal.
Ultimately, doctors emphasize that vitamin B12 deficiency and the associated symptoms are reversible. “The effects of dietary supplements often appear within weeks,” says Sachdev.
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