21 year old ate THIS DIET and it caused BRAIN DAMAGE: Medical Case Report

This is the classic case of doctors never asking "what are you eating/how is your diet" and I don't understand why. Food is so huge part of wellbeing

I wasn't shocked, my son had a B12 deficiency when he was 10 years old because he had undiagnosed celiac disease. He got to the point where he could barely walk. He was admitted to children's hospital. The doctors thought he was depressed. They ran all kinds of tests and discharged him. I became an Internet sleuth, this is 1999 when there wasn't that much on the Internet. Luckily, my pediatrician listen to me, she drew the blood test She gave him an injection of B12 immediately, she didn't even wait for the results. The change was nearly miraculous, the next day he was out of bed and over the few days was nearly back to normal. He continued to get B12 injections monthly until his celiac disease is properly treated.

it took 18 doctors, spanning 6 specialties, 2.5 years of working together in order to diagnose my pernicious anemia. my initial presentation was congestive heart failure. Make These Videos For The Doctors, i knew what it was for over a decade and was ridiculed into silence. It's The DOCTORS Who Need To Hear All Of This. i'm i the U.S. and got dx at age 38. would have been great to have had it caught while the damage was reversible. and yes, i know, i seem coherent. but im also a literal genius- something else i cant talk about without ridicule from "danger-zone intelligence" doctors. EDUCATE THE DOCTORS, they think they know all about things they've never before encountered.

As an RN, I took care of a 40 yr old male patient who was admitted to the hospital with debilitating numbness in his legs and feet. Upon admission he couldn't even stand by himself. He was found to be severely B12 deficient and started on B12 injections. A few days later he walked out of the hospital unassisted.

I was treated for a seizure disorder for 2 years before a new neurologist asked what my B12 level was. She was insistent that 28 year old women didn’t suddenly start having a seizure disorder without a cause. Turns out it was never a seizure disorder. My B12 level was just so low that I was having seizures - which had been diagnosed with an EEG. Within about 9 months of B12 injections, I was seizure free. That was 15 years ago, and I’m still seizure free!! I still have to take supplement injections, and have my levels checked about every 6 months. For me, it was the result of multiple surgeries involving my stomach and intestines - I simply don’t absorb it adequately.

I just gained 3 brain cells from this video. Thank you.

I had a relatively mild B12 deficiency 2 years ago and I couldn’t believe how terrible I felt with just a mild deficiency! I can’t imagine a severe B12 deficiency.

As a clinical RD I immediately knew his issue (same with your other videos that revolved around nutrient deficiencies) , this is why dietitians need to be consulted more often than they currently are.

This reminds me of another case where a 10-month old had learned to crawl, but then stopped crawling and would just lay there. Dr's found that his arms and legs hurt, so they ran tests and suspected bone cancer (even told his parents that). A doctor from India took one look and correctly diagnosed it as scurvy. Turns out the patient only ate goldfish crackers. Doctors in developed countries just don't see malnutrition that often.

Let's expand the B12 awareness a bit more: The body utilizes up to about 5mcg (five micrograms) B12 per day. The liver stores up to 5,000mcg, so if the B12 income is suddenly stopped, it could take as long as several years before the B12 symptoms show up. Other than specific cobalamin blood tests, the usual screening test that raises suspicion of B12 deficiency is megaloblastic anemia--the big red blood cells she talked about. A big concern is that taking large amounts of another B vitamin, folic acid, can mask or hide the enlargement. It is for this reason that folic acid is prescription only in doses above 0.8mg. Just to make things more complicated, dietary B12 is absorbed only in the last 20cm (12 inches) of the small intestine, a section called the ilium. If a person has digestive difficulties, a problem that increases with age, there may not be enough B12 absorbed to replenish the stockpile. This is why you often hear of older people taking monthly B12 shots. But wait--there's more! While B12 is, as mentioned, primarily from animal sources, there are actually a few non-animal sources including tempeh, certain fermented foods, and chlorella, but these are usually considered inadequate for maintaining optimal levels. But that's too easy--in order for the ilium to efficiently absorb it, another protein called "intrinsic factor" must be present; it is produced in the stomach, and again may have lower levels in aging populations. Oral supplements are a very realistic option; there are even vegan forms of active B12 available. (Some forms are less active than others.) Because of the potential uncertainty of amounts absorbed by digestion, two newer forms of supplements have become available: nasal (yes, into the nose!), and sublingual (under the tongue). The nasal form is somewhat uncomfortable and rather expensive (you have to pay through the nose!); the sublingual helps ensure a more direct absorption into the blood stream. There is no evidence of any B12 toxicity, as the body is extremely efficient at eliminating any excess; sublingual forms are available in from 100 to 5000mcg sizes. A personal note: in light of the evidence that up to 5mcg can be utilized per day and the fact that there's no known toxicity, I think it is incorrect for the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) to be set at 2.4mcg instead of a more generous 10mcg per day. If this hasn't already overburdened your awareness of B12, check out the Wikipedia article. It includes valid references that can keep you entertained for hours! :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12

Heyyy! I was just in SC last weekend visiting my aunt in the ICU after she suffered a major stroke. One of the nurses actually brought his violin and went into each room and played a song for the patients and their families. I thought that was the sweetest thing! He said it was great because he was able to keep his talent brushed up and provide some comfort to the patients and their families during their stay. ❤❤❤

As someone who had a hemorrhagic stroke at nineteen, I found this video fascinating. I was a naturally skinny kid and picky eater who stopped eating mammals in the ninth grade, subsisting almost exclusively on processed carbs and a bit of poultry, so there were several parallels between my and James’ stories. Your video makes me wonder whether I was, in fact, B12-deficient and whether this may have contributed to my brain bleed.

i love that being a doctor is basically mystery solving and and so much teamwork. that’s what i wanna do in life

Hearing that diet alone makes me feel uncomfortable. I can't stress how unhealthy it is.

Similarly I was B12 deficient and luckily my Dr., while recommending I see a neurologist, sent off bloodwork first, mentioning B12 deficiency can cause neurological issues. My symptoms were: head tremors (shaking from side to side), major memory issues, balancing issues and fatigue. I started on a B12 supplement and within 2 weeks had a complete 180, everything improved!

The fact that they ignored B12 deficiency when he showed an elevated MCV is stunning. He should have sought a naturopathic doctor.

She's so excited about the story; she's so nerdy about her profession. It's so freaking cute. I love it.

Good thing it didn’t happen to James in the United States because the medical bills would have killed him anyways 😂

I had this issue. Most likely due to poor nutrition on my part. I never felt so horrible, depressed, sluggish, and quite frankly “dumb” in my life. It was affecting my work horribly for a long time before my diagnosis. I could never think straight. The brain fog caused short term memory loss (like forgetting something AS I was doing it. I even had trouble counting money when paying for things.) and I felt like I wasn’t really even “there”. And don’t even get me started on the pains and headaches that further agitated my already declining mental state. I’m usually a very “docile” and non confrontative person but the low B12 made me incredibly irritable and even snappy at times. I’m doing much better now after rounds of injections but I still worried about falling back into old habits that contributed to the deficiency in the first place.

U can just see her passion and excitement talking about this case 😆 she definitely chose the right profession—it’s refreshing to see someone chose the medical route out of interest rather than just for the success & $