PERNICIOUS ANEMIA

Pernicious anemia is caused by the lack of a substance in the stomach (intrinsic factor) that is needed to absorb vitamin BI2. The resultant lack of vitamin B12 causes anemia, as well as problems with the nervous system. Vitamin B12 helps in the formation of normal red blood cells. Before the discovery of the cause and treatment of this anemia, it was indeed pernicious. Many older people became progressively ill, anemic, and weak, and eventually died.

Pernicious anemia can occur in older people with thyroid disease or in those who have undergone some type of stomach or intestinal surgery. Sometimes it occurs spontaneously, and it occasionally runs in families. You may feel weak and short of breath and have nervous system symptoms, such as tingling in the feet, difficulty in balance, and some memory loss. The diagnosis calls for blood and urine tests that measure the absorption of vitamin B12. A bone marrow biopsy also is often helpful.

Treatment is relatively simple: it consists of injections of vitamin B]2, which are given once a month. Many individuals who may have assumed that their weakness and fatigue were part of aging are happily surprised after they receive vitamin B12 injections. If you do not have a vitamin B12 deficiency, though, such injections will not make you feel stronger. You should not take the vitamin for an energy “boost,” as was done quite commonly many years ago.

One elderly acquaintance who lived in a nursing home had always been very active and well-read. She was asked if she would like to work in the residents’ library. Unexpectedly, she declined, saying that she recently experienced difficulty concentrating while reading. Her attending physician became suspicious and invited her for a medical examination. Careful questioning revealed that she also became a little short of breath when she walked and had to hold onto the wall because she was afraid of falling.

Tests revealed that she had a very low vitamin B12 level and was quite anemic. A year before, her blood count was only somewhat lower than normal, but at the time further investigations had not been done. After she was treated with vitamin B12, her blood count bounced back to normal and all of her symptoms disappeared. She now runs the library full-time. Not only can she tell you where each book is located, but she seems to have read almost all of them.

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