WBC: 4.8
RBC: 3.57
Hemoglobin: 12.0
Hematocrit: 34.8
MCV: 97
MCH: 33.7
Chloride: 109

I am either borderline high or low on almost all of those. And I’ve read that a high Chloride count could also be a symptom of anemia. My doctor said everything was normal and when I asked specifically about the possibility of a B12 def. he said, no it was fine. Please let me know what your results were and what would be the best next step to take. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

I was born with Iron deficiency anemia and had to be given iron the first several years of my life. My mother was always concerned the anemia would return once I got older, but I didn’t develop any symptoms so it went unchecked. Since the age of 20 I’ve tried to give blood twice and was denied because they said I was “boderline” anemic. Not sure what they meant by that, but of course it was a a local Red Cross so that was as far as the testing went.

Now I’m a month shy of turning 29 and over the past several years I’ve developed a lot of strange symptoms. And being a really healthy person the symptoms definitely stood out to me as something not normal. I first would get dizzy and light headed randomly. Then over the past year or so I started getting headaches and really feeling mentally not “with it”. I couldn’t remember things that used to come really easily to me, I had a very hard time concentrating, I was irritable and I honestly thought to myself, “wow, surely I’m too young to be losing my memory or to be developing alzheimer’s”. I really felt like I was going crazy. And I also sometime can’t think of simple words when having a conversation with someone. I just feel not as smart as I was, like I’ve somehow back-tracked mentally. Also, at night I would feel like my chest was heavy, not really hurting, but just tight and heavy. Like something was standing on it. And then recently the headaches started getting worse and I would feel like passing out nearly every day. And one day last week my calves and then my thighs felt really tired like I’d been lifting heavy weights, but I hadn’t. Then the next day it was in my arms.

All of those things are still going on with me, and I went to a new Dr. today to get it checked out. I told him my past history with iron deficiency anemia and they did some blood work. I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks. I originally was concerned about the iron deficiency coming back, but after reading all of your blogs and everyone’s experiences, I feel like maybe it is B-12 causing the problem. I haven’t been able to really accurately describe what I’ve been feeling, but I can relate completely to all the symptom descriptions on here.

Can you give me any advice toward handling my Dr. and voicing my concern about B-12 possibly being the reason for my feeling bad?

I was just recently tested for B12 and it was found that my levels were 291. I am now taking supplements and receiving monthly shots.

Are they any long term affects, or anything which I should be looking for?