A silent crippler stalks millions of North Americans—and
each of us may be one of them.

     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 or paralysis 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 their children. Other times it lurks silently, stealthily increasing its victim’s risk of deadly diseases ranging from stroke and heart attacks to cancer.

     This medical disorder stems from a vitamin deficiency, but your standard multivitamin pill won’t prevent it in many cases, and even high-dose oral formulas of this vitamin may not help. It’s considered an “old people’s disease” by doctors, but it can strike any person at any age, and it sometimes hits children the hardest.
     The disorder is vitamin B12 deficiency. If you develop this
deficiency it’s easy to spot, easy to treat, and easy to cure—but only if your doctor diagnoses you before it’s too late. Unfortunately, that frequently doesn’t happen.
      This isn’t a new or fad disease. In fact, you’ll find it listed in
the textbooks of any first-year medical student. It’s not a rare disease, either: If you’re over forty, you’re at an elevated risk for dangerous B12 deficiency, and if you’re over sixty, you have up to a 40 percent chance of having dangerously low B12 levels.

     Sally M. Pacholok, R.N. and her physician husband, Jeffrey J. Stuart, cite the extensive research done by numerous medical centers and universities that proves B12 deficiency plays a defining role in many seemingly hopeless problems. But, even in the face of these studies, this disorder has somehow been overlooked by the general medical field and is often misdiagnosed—with disastrous consequences. The authors include numerous case histories and offer their readers strategies on how to learn if they or a loved one may be suffering from a B12 deficiency. The first book to explore this deadly problem!

Table of Contents

An Invisible Epidemic
• Is It Aging—or Is It B12 Deficiency?
• Deadly Mimic: When B12 Deficiency Masquerades

as Multiple Sclerosis or Other
• Neurological Disorders
• Am I Losing My Mind? When B12 Deficiency

Causes Mental Illness
• Stroke, Heart Disease, and Other Vascular Problems:
• The B12 -Homocysteine Connection
• Lost Children: When B12 Deficiency Causes
Developmental Disabilities or Learning Problems
• Vitamin B12 and Cancer, Impaired Immune Function,
and Autoimmune Disease
• Under the Knife: Why Low B12 Levels Make Surgery Dangerous
• Can’t Conceive? How B12 Deficiency Contributes to
Male and Female Infertility
• Protecting Yourself: Are You at Risk for Vitamin B12 Deficiency?
• Information for Physicians
• Speculation: The Possible Role of Vitamin B12 in Autism
• A Call for a United Effort

About the Authors

    In Could It Be B12?, RN Sally M. Pacholok and her physician husband, Jeffrey J. Stuart, cite the extensive research done by numerous medical centers and universities that proves B12 deficiency plays a defining role in many seemingly hopeless problems. But, Pacholok and Stuart contend that, even in the face
of these studies, this disorder has somehow been overlooked by the general medical field and is often misdiagnosed.