Press Release
“Year of B12 Awareness”
September declared
“Vitamin B12 Awareness Month” in the United States
September 23 will be “Vitamin B12 Awareness Day”
Fall into Action by September 23
Fresno, CA- Masked behind misdiagnoses, B12 deficiency has slowly grown to become the most untreated and unrecognized nutritional disorder causing injury in the United States.
This crippler is a master of masquerade, striking different people in different ways. It afflicts one person with tremors, makes another depressed or psychotic, and causes agonizing leg and arm pains in still another. It can mimic Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, early Parkinson's disease, diabetic neuropathy, or chronic fatigue syndrome. It can make men or women infertile or cause developmental disabilities in children. Other times it lurks silently, stealthily increasing its victim's risk of deadly diseases ranging from stroke and heart attacks to cancer.
Sally Pacholok, R.N. and Jeffrey Stuart, D.O. are spearheading a national effort to alert the public to the dangers of vitamin B12 deficiency—a public health care crisis costing state and federal agencies billions of dollars and costing millions of people their health.
Organizers chose spring to begin the campaign because it's a time when we're all thinking about getting out and moving around more—and healthy vitamin B12 levels are crucial for an independent and active life. They are calling on all health care institutions and assisted-living residences to learn about B12 deficiency by September 23—Vitamin B12 Awareness Day—and to include screening seniors for B12 deficiency in their fall-prevention programs.
Pacholok and Stuart point out that B12 deficiency is a world-wide problem and a hidden epidemic in the United States. B12 deficiency causes symptoms such as nerve pain or tingling, dementia, mental illness, tremor, difficulty walking, and frequent falls. It is commonly misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, depression, peripheral neuropathy, vertigo, and mini-strokes. Major medical journals report that vitamin B12 deficiency occurs in up to 15 percent of the elderly—approximately 5.4 million seniors. Other studies report the prevalence to be 15 percent to 25 percent. What's more, these numbers only relate to persons 65 and older. They don't include the vast numbers of Americans under the age of 65—many of them infants, children or middle-aged adults—who become B12 deficient for a variety of reasons. In younger people B12 deficiency can mimic post-partum depression/psychosis and autistic-like symptoms in children.
Groups of people at high risk for B12 deficiency include vegans, vegetarians, alcoholics, people with eating disorders, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, those who have had gastric bypass surgery, and those who suffer from autoimmune diseases and AIDS. The use of certain drugs such as proton pump inhibitors, metformin, H-2 blockers and nitrous oxide can also cause B12 deficiency.
Did you know the following?
• Most patients who have B12 deficiency symptoms or are at risk for B12 deficiency never get tested.
• Even doctors who do order B12 tests miss many cases of B12 deficiency because they don't use an additional sensitive test (urinary methylmalonic acid).
• Misdiagnosis is common because B12 deficiency mimics other diseases.
• Many doctors rarely contemplate B12 deficiency unless red blood cell abnormalities or anemia—often late signs—are present.
• The elderly are easily misdiagnosed because doctors often blame their symptoms on coexisting medical problems.
• Treating B12 deficiency costs only a few dollars a month and symptoms are often completely reversible if people receive early treatment.
• If diagnosed too late, symptoms such as dementia, tremor, and nerve injury typically cannot be reversed.
• Multi-vitamin pills contain only small amounts of B12—far too little to correct a B12 deficiency or to prevent B12 deficiency in at-risk groups.
Pacholok and Stuart believe the hidden epidemic of B12 deficiency can be stopped in its tracks by educating the health care community and the public. "This is one of the most preventable, and most curable, of all medical scourges," they say, “but only if we choose to act." They urge the medical community to take steps including:
• Screening at-risk adults in assisted living residences, group homes, nursing homes, and hospitals.
• Incorporating screening for B12 deficiency into all fall prevention programs.
• Screening at-risk pregnant women and nursing mothers.
• Screening infants and children with developmental delays.
• Screening patients diagnosed with MS, mental illness, or dementia (including Alzheimer's).
Pacholok and Stuart are seasoned media interviewees and would be happy to answer your listeners' questions.
Sally Pacholok has been practicing emergency nursing for 22 years. Jeffrey Stuart, D.O. is board-certified in emergency medicine and has been practicing for 16 years. They coauthored the most comprehensive explanation of this problem, Could It Be B12?: An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses (Quill Driver Books). They have appeared as guests on CNN-Headline News, Seeking Solutions with Suzanne, KATV Channel 7 News in Little Rock, Arkansas, and numerous TV shows in southeastern Michigan. Additionally, they have been interviewed by dozens of radio stations including: KSTE Radio, Sacramento Wide World of Health, KHNR Honolulu Doctors Health Radio, KKCR BBS Radio, Dr. Ann West Show, CHOK Radio, Ontario Canada Live with Lee, Redbook, First Magazine, Bottom Line Health, Variety, Anchorage Times, Detroit Free Press, South Bend Tribune, Lockport Union-Sun and Journal, and Nursing 2007.
Possible Interview Questions:
Why is vitamin B12 important?
Why do we become deficient?
What are the signs and symptoms of B12 deficiency, and who is at risk?
Who should be tested?
Why are patients being misdiagnosed?
What are the names of the tests used to diagnose B12 deficiency?
What is the cost to patients and society regarding misdiagnosis?
What can we do to help raise awareness?
