Vitamin B12 deficiency: Hearing this sound could signal you're lacking the vitamin [Tinnitus]

www.express.co.uk ^ | PUBLISHED: 10:49, Tue, Jun 16, 2020 | UPDATED: 10:49, Tue, Jun 16, 2020 | By Adam Chapman

[Red Badger]

VITAMIN B12 deficiency produces a number of eerie effects on the body and the type of symptoms you may experience depend on the underlying cause. One common warning sign associated with B12 deficiency caused by pernicious anaemia is a particular sound.

Vitamin B12's impact on the body is brought into sharp relief if you become deficient in the vitamin. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep the body’s nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells. If the body does not get enough of the vitamin, it therefore responds in disturbing ways.

How your body responds depends largely on what is causing your B12 deficiency.

Pernicious anaemia is the most common cause of vitamin B12 deficiency in the UK.

B12 is naturally found in certain foods but pernicious anaemia inhibits your ability to absorb the vitamin from food.

This is because pernicious anaemia prevents the body from making intrinsic factor - a protein made by the stomach and needed to absorb vitamin B12 in the intestine.

There are a number of distinctive signs associated with B12 deficiency caused by pernicious anaemia.

According to the Pernicious Anaemia Society (PAS), one neurological symptom to watch out for is tinnitus.

Tinnitus is the perception of noise or ringing in the ears.

According to Mayo Clinic, tinnitus symptoms may include these types of phantom noises in your ears:

Ringing

Buzzing

Roaring

Clicking

Hissing

Humming

"The phantom noise may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it in one or both ears," explains the health body.

According to PAS, tinnitus is extremely common in patients with pernicious anaemia and is probably due to slight nerve damage to the brain.

Other symptoms of B12 deficiency anaemia include:

A pale yellow tinge to your skin

A sore and red tongue (glossitis)

Mouth ulcers

Pins and needles (paraesthesia)

Changes in the way that you walk and move around

Disturbed vision

Irritability

Depression

Changes in the way you think, feel and behave

A decline in your mental abilities, such as memory, understanding and judgement (dementia)

Some of these symptoms can also happen in people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency but have not developed anaemia.

How to treat it

Vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia is usually treated with injections of vitamin B12.

There are two types of vitamin B12 injections:

Hydroxocobalamin

Cyanocobalamin

It is worth noting that B12 deficiency can be caused by a lack of the vitamin in your diet.

According to the NHS, you may be prescribed vitamin B12 tablets to take every day between meals if this is the case.

[Grampa Dave]

Vegetarians are often deficient in B12. Listed below are the good foods with B12:

Below are 12 healthy foods that are very high in vitamin B12:

Animal liver and kidneys. Organ meats are some of the most nutritious foods out there. ...
Clams. Clams are small, chewy shellfish that are packed with nutrients. ...
Sardines. ...
Beef. ...
Fortified cereal. ...
Tuna. ...
Fortified nutritional yeast. ...
Trout.
•Feb 25, 2020o

Another reason eat the Med Diet or Paleo Diet.

[RummyChick]

there is a scientific reason why it works but I dont remember what it is.

You have to take the two together. I think it is the vitamin A that helps but you need Zinc to help it. Been awhile since I figured this out

However since your problem is so bad that you have to have tubes replaced it might not help you.

[Gay State Conservative]

I was diagnosed with tinnitus at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary,the world’s top hospital specializing in diseases of the eyes,ears,nose and throat.The doctor (an M.D.) said that tinnitus is a symptom,a result,of hearing loss.No mention of vitamin B12 at all.

[Bob434]

easy solution- get drunk and fall down right near the rims- within lickin range-

[spacejunkie2001]

clarification on a few things: One, take the form methalcobalamin, not the other 2. Methyl is the best form.

Two, a very high percentage of the population has LOW stomach acid, not high. In fact high stomach acid doesn’t even exist. Low acid manifests as ‘high’ by symptoms of GERD and indigestion.

When stomach acid is low you cannot break down your food and supplements and gain the benefits from them. So, supplementing really needs to be done in conjunction with raising acid. This is typically done by supplementing with HCL, which IS stomach acid.

[Red Badger]

I eat all that.........except for kidneys................

[Red Badger]

My doc said Tinnitus was a result of nerve damage.............

[Jemian]

I do have a B12 deficiency and learned a little about it. Something the article does not state (unless I missed it, which is entirely possible) is that a person needs something called "intrinsic factor" in your stomach. This aids in the absorption of B12 and without it, a person can swallow as much of raw liver, red meat or take the vitamins orally as they can and it won't do any good. Intrinsic factor is aptly named. It is intrinsic for the absorption of B12.

Many older people have exhausted their natural sources of intrinsic factor and so they cannot meet their B12 needs through diet. GET THE SHOTS! It makes a world of difference.

I can tell when I go too long between injections. I get more light-headed, I develop a peculiar type of a headache, and the ringing in my ears is deafening! Further, it is very difficult to take too much of B12. It is water soluable. What you don't use, you excrete. HTH.

[sgt_lau]

Texas headphones!!!

[Red Badger]

Thanks for the info!...............

[Trailerpark Badass]

My tinnitus went away when I started taking BP medication.

[mountainlion]

My hearing has been modified by high explosives, RPG and heavy equipment. At least I can hear more than my ears rigging.

[mass55th]

Certain medications can cause tinnitus as well. I’ve had it for ages, and periodically I get the sound of crystal wind chimes tinkling as well. It’s never really bothered me, and doesn’t keep me from sleeping. I’ve run a fan at night in my room for at least 20 years. I worked 3-11 p.m., and sometimes 11 p.m -7 a.m. before I retired, and I had an elderly neighbor downstairs whose druggie son would come over in the middle of the night, knock loudly on her door, and then beg her for money. They tended to get loud, but having the fan on drowned it all out. He finally drove her to the grave, and there was peace at last.

[Red Badger]

BP induced tinnitus is common................

[Flaming Conservative]

B vitamins help heal nerve damage.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

You mean it is simply a B12 deficiency and not years of B-52 engines, or steel shop work, or power plant compressors or shooting riles?

why didn’t someone tell me this (with sign language) years ago!

[Red Badger]

[RummyChick]

After I couldnt get any wax out despite various methods i figured i just lost my hearing.

It is such a weird feeling. Can’t stand it. glad i found something that works

[Red Badger]

B12 deficiency in SOME people, not all....................

[mass55th]

"yup- mine was from loud loud loud rock music too"

We used to go to dances with live bands every weekend, and I think dancing in front of the loud speakers so often, did a job on my ears. I had earaches a lot when I was a kid, until I had my tonsils out at age 5, and I also had a perforated ear drum when I was in my 20's, so those two things didn't help either. But it should be noted that my hearing is actually worse in the ear that didn't have the perforated ear drum.