To Joyce Tames: ([log in to unmask]
Dear Joyce:
I can underestand your anger with your physician for rejecting your
symptoms as reflecting a deficiency of Vitamin B/12. There certainly are
simlarites in the neurological and some gastrointestinal signs. He did not
seem to have substantiated his interpretations by using a large number of
the several sensitive tests for an inadequate supply of the vitamin,
deficient gastrointestinal absorption, etc.
However, I would not reject causes other those of vitamin B/12
defiencies or even the absence of a true B/12 deficiency. For example the
responses to large (multmilligram) doses of B/12 by mouth may be misleading,
because this agent may have several actions other than its chief role as a
vitamin. A fraction of a microgram (1/millionth of a gram)given by injection
may have a persistent effect on several types of cells after a single injection.
It is difficult to maintain an objective attitude in
differrentiating such complex and debilitating diseases as PD and B/12
deficiencies. You need to find a neurologist and hematologist that you will
learn to trust.
Best wishes, Steven E. Mayer
Steven E. Mayer, Ph.D.
