Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that our body needs for the central nervous system. Deficiency of this vitamin affects the body in several ways that are unknown to people. In a recent post made on X, formerly Twitter, Dr. Sudhir Kumar, who goes by the name "hyderabaddoctor", shared a case of a 12-year-old school student who had vitamin B12 deficiency.
"He was unable to remember the next morning what he studied the previous night"
Dr. Kumar talks about a school student who was unable to remember his studies and was brought to him by his parents. He writes: 12-year-old Ashu (name changed) was a bright child, and he was doing well in studies until 5th grade. However, he changed for the worse during grade 6th. He failed and needed to repeat the 6th grade.
According to his teachers, Ashu was inattentive during classes and did not concentrate. His parents’ observations at home were similar. It was not easy to make Ashu understand the concepts, and in addition, his memory had become weak. He was unable to remember the next morning what he studied the previous night. Ashu’s parents also helped him with private tuition, but that did not result in any improvement.
His parents wanted a memory pill for him
"Ashu’s parents were worried, as there was no obvious reason for his deteriorating academic performance. They enquired whether he had lost interest in studies or if he was interested in any other activity, but Ashu was sure that he wanted to do well in studies and despite his best efforts, he wasn’t able to do well," Dr. Kumar writes in the long post.
"At this point, Ashu’s parents consulted me. They enquired if I could prescribe a pill to boost Ashu’s memory and improve his scholastic performance. However, there is no such pill," he adds.
Vitamin B12 was 60 pg/ml
The doctor said that upon testing he found that vitamin B12 level in the child was just 60 pg/ml. The normal range of vitamin B12 is between 200 pg/mL and 900 pg/mL. The child was diagnosed with severe vitamin B12 deficiency with dementia.
“I started Ashu on vitamin B12 injections. Follow up after one month showed significant improvement in attention span, concentration, and memory. Another three months later, the much-awaited news came. Ashu not only managed to pass grade 6 examinations but did so with very high scores,” he tweets.
Dementia in kids
Considered to be one of the under-recognised hence under-diagnosed diseases among kids, childhood dementia needs more attention. "Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of treatment results in complete restoration of memory and other brain functions," says Dr. Kumar. The key signs, which often go unnoticed by parents, are memory loss, lack of concentration, behavioural issues, change in personality, low performance in school, and excessive fear.
A kid, who was otherwise performing exceptionally well, suddenly deteriorates in school work Vitamin B12 deficiency can be suspected, explains Dr. Kumar on the signs of vitamin B12 triggered dementia. These kids won't be able to recall what they have read, they will find extreme difficulty in tough subjects or subjects where they were already struggling, and they are also likely to lose interest in the activities they were passionate about earlier," he adds.
In many cases, the kid might have a change in behaviour. A calm and obedient child might turn angry with agitated behaviour.
Apart from this, the kid might complain about a tingling sensation in feet and hands. Parents can notice dark skin on the knuckles and on the mouth as well.
Anemia is a common outcome of Vitamin B12 deficiency and in this, the body is unable to synthesize red blood cells because it does have sufficient vitamin B12. Anemia can fatigue kids easily and that is another reason why they are unable to perform well in school as before, explains Dr. Kumar.
The only way to make the outcome is early diagnosis and identifying the symptoms can help with this, he concludes.
Read the tweet here:
