Crohns and pernicious anemia

deficiencylass

New Member

Joined : Nov 2011

Posts : 17

Posted 12/18/2011 9:12 PM (GMT 0)

I went to an endocrinologist recently for my hypothyroidism and we also discussed my Crohns and vitamins B12 and D deficiencies. She asked if the B12 deficiency was due to pernicious anemia, and I told her that I believed that it was due to the scarring on my terminal ileum from Crohns preventing B12 absorption. She had some blood tests done for testing my thyroid levels and decided to also have my levels of antiparietal cell antibody measured as well. The test came up with 64 units (as opposed to a norm of 0-20). So does this mean I also have pernicious anemia as well??? I am taking B12 shots every 10 days now and my B12 levels are still not up.

Anyone have any ideas about this?

ambling

Veteran Member

Joined : Feb 2011

Posts : 1075

Posted 12/18/2011 9:56 PM (GMT 0)

Hi,
What was your B12 level and did your blood test also show megoblastic anemia? (Anemia is a deficiency of red blood cells, and megoblastic anemia is anemia with larger than normal red blood cells, which usually indicates B12 deficiency or folic acid deficiency.)
An antibody level of 20-40 is mildly positive, and greater than 80 is positive, so you have some indications of pernicious anemia but it needs to be confirmed by other data.
It could be that you have a double whammy of not being able to convert the B12 in your stomach to an absorbable form (due to lack of available antiparietal cells) and are also unable to absorb much of the converted B12 in the terminal ileum, due to scarring.
You do need to discuss all this further with the endocrinologist.
Pernicious anemia is cured with B12 injections. It often seems that injections take time to build up. Some respond well with sub-lingual doses of B12, which also go straight into the blood stream.

Sounds like you are being properly looked after, so not to worry.
All the best.

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply