This is your brain...this is your brain without b12...

What are we talking about?

I forgot.

Wait.

Oh.

Yeah.

Melting...

Melting...

Oh God I KNOW this!

...

MAMA! YES! Mama...whew. Close one. ;)

Sounds about right to me.  B12 levels of 550 or below are known to cause short term memory problems, as well as trouble with concentration, exhaustion and depression.  And the really scary thing is that when it gets below about 400, you can end up with permanent nerve damage.  As in, never goes away for the rest of your life.  So take your B12.  And get it checked regularly and make sure you find out the results, don't just ask if it's OK or not.  You need to know the number.  Most vitamin deficiencies can be scary if they get bad enough, but I think B12 is one of the scariest ones because it can cause such serious permanent damage.

B-12 isn't the only B vitamin that will rob you of your memory.  I take B-12 shots (fairly regularly) and the B-12 is OK.  But I went out and got a bargain multiple vitamin and at the end of the 90 day supply it was time to get my blood work checked again.  My B-1 was in the toilet.  Kaiser's report said my B-1 should have been in the neighborhood of 55 and mine was only 7.  I was tired, sleepy, lethargic, irritable and no short term memory at all.  The nutritionist checked my vitamins and told me that my multiple didn't have any B-1 at all.  Word from here, BE CAREFUL. I actually figured that because I had a VSG (no mal absorption) that I would be OK.  Not so as we simply don't eat enough to get what we need..

The ASMBS recommends we use a multi with 100% of the RDA of most stuff in it.  VSG folks need one a day and RNY folks need two a day.  And we should definitely read the label carefully to make sure all the B vitamins and all the m inerals like zinc, copper and selenium are in there.

Was your multi a gummy one by any chance?

 
Damn, I hate to have to admit it, but yes my multi was a gummy! ! !  But it was a good national brand, and a Adult formulation.  Actually it was a pre-natal.  I figured it it was good enough to support the growth of a fetus it should be good enough for me.   NOT NOT NOT!

A prenatal gummy?  Oy!  That is scary!  I'm pretty sure it is NOT good enough to support the growth of a fetus.  Let me guess.... it was missing at least one of the following: zinc, copper, selenium?  And it was low in vitamin A?  Maybe had 50% of the RDA of it?

Wanna know how I knew it would be a gummy?  They are ALL missing important stuff.  I don't think there is one on the market that has all the B vitamins.  Know why?  B vitamins don't taste very good.  It wouldn't taste like candy if it has all the B vitamins in there.  Some of the minerals don't taste very good either, plus they are trying to keep it a reasonable size.  If the vitamins looked like gummy bears but were four or five times the size of actual gummy bears, people would not like them as much.  So they leave things out.

The fact that it was an adult formula means nothing.  That is not any kind of legal term.  Any company that wants to can print the word "adult" on their vitamin package.  Any company that wants can also print the word "complete" on their vitamin package, even if the vitamin really is not complete at all but is missing some important nutrients - which is why it says "complete" on the Flintstones bottle.  Not because they really are complete, but because they are permitted to call themselves complete even though they are not.

  Kelly you are so right!  The Prenatal vitamin had zinc, but was missing copper and selenium.  Guess these prenatal gummies aren't good for pregnant women either.  What a shame.