Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause a wide range of symptoms due to the essential role the nutrient plays in the body. Left untreated, a B12 deficiency could cause long-term and possibly irreversible damage. An unusual sensation in your hands could signal a deficiency.

READ MORE

• Type 2 diabetes: Food to lower blood sugar

Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that the body absorbs through eating certain foods.

One of its main functions in the body is to keep the nerve and blood cells healthy and help make DNA, the genetic material in all cells.

Some people may not be getting the required B12 the body needs due to their restrictive diet.

When a B12 deficiency ensues, a variety of health complications arise and feeling this feeling in your hands could be a sign.

The Thyroid Patient Advocacy said: “A sharp stabbing, tingling pain in the palm of one or both hands could be a symptom of a B12 deficiency.

“This occurs suddenly and for no apparent reason in a spot directly below the ring finger, approximately where the first palm crease is.

“If B12 deficiency is not treated, a tingling pain may begin to occur along the outside edge of the hand, starting from the wrist.

“This pain occurs when the wrist is flexed backward.”

Centra State added: “Tingling of the hands and feet is a sign of a B12 deficiency.

“Limb tingling can be the sign of a serious neurological condition, or something less sinister, like a B12 deficiency.

“Other signs of a B12 deficiency include a swollen or inflamed tongue, jaundice, weakness, fatigue or loss of vision.”

READ MORE

• Heart attack: Early warning on the ankles

Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause long term and sometimes irreversible damage if left untreated.

Pernicious anaemia is an autoimmune disease that prevents the body from making intrinsic factor which is a protein made by the stomach and needed to absorb vitamin B12 in the intestine.

The most common cause of a dietary disruption is pernicious anaemia.

How to treat a deficiency

The treatment for vitamin B12 deficiency depends on what is causing the condition.

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

There are two types of vitamin B12 injections which include hydroxocobalamin or cyanocobalamin.

Eating the right kinds of foods will also help with a deficiency and this includes more beef, liver, fish, and tuna. 

Source: Read Full Article