How should my vitamin B12 levels be measured?

Preventive medicine specialist David Katz, MD, explains how a patient can get their vitamin B12 levels measured and gives information on preventive medicine as well as overall wellness.

Transcript

00:00

DAVID KATZ: Always make sure your doctor knows about a change in your health status. And B12 might be on the list of causes, and then we'd have to go looking for it.

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00:16

We don't routinely get B12 levels unless there's a reason. Now, that reason could start with you. So your B12 levels should be measured

00:23

if you're having symptoms, if you're having numbness and tingling you can't account for or forgetfulness you can't account for

00:29

or a change in mood or energy level you can't account for. But what often happens is we are routinely getting what's called a complete blood count,

00:38

so we look at the red blood cells, the white blood cells. And if B12 is deficient, it can cause anemia. But even before it causes anemia it

00:45

makes red blood cells look funny. They actually get big and they get pale. It also makes white blood cells look funny.

00:51

So if you have a routine blood test and it looks funny, that may result in a B12 level. The B12 level is a blood test.

00:58

We're measuring serum levels of B12. You can't do this at home. So you need your doctor's help here.

01:05

But if there's any reason to go looking for a B12 level either because of what's seen on routine blood testing or because of what you report feeling,

01:13

it's a fairly easy assay. And we do it as a matter of routine when there is a reason.

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But don't count on your doctor to do it just as a part of a battery of tests. It's not routinely done for that purpose. [MUSIC PLAYING]