Negotiating with your doctor
A lot of our members say their doctors won’t listen and won’t diagnose and treat Vitamin B12 deficiency.
The NICE guidance NG239 Vitamin B12 deficiency in over 16s: diagnosis and management https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng239 was issued earlier this year, so most GPs probably don’t know it exists. It makes a number of key changes to common practice, including advice for recognising B12 deficiency (people’s symptoms are highly variable); the use of the Active B12 blood test and recognising that many people self-treat; and a much wider range of symptoms and signs/ trigger factors than previously. There are some things we didn’t manage to get into the guidance, including blood serum ranges (no mention of problems with the standard blood serum B12 test (Carmel & Agrawal 2012) and the thresholds indicated are known to miss some patients (McBride 2000), but
it’s a big step forward for most people.
So, you first need to ensure that your GP has a copy of the new guidelines NG239, and if possible a copy of Dr Chandy’s book from <https://b12d.org/book> www.b12d.org/book.
But we’re going to dedicate May’s meeting to people’s experiences of talking with their doctors. Please come with your experiences at the forefront of your mind.