Friday 8 November 2013

Marmite....hate it....and love it.

Last week my partner had a load of blood tests done to try and see if there is anything besides Post-Meningitis Pain causing the cramping and slicing he still feels in his legs and arm, and I'm delighted to say they found something.

Not very exciting, which is just how we like it, he has a Vitamin B12 deficiency. The Doctor immediately asked if he was vegetarian. He isn't, but I am and I do the cooking, although I do give the meat-eaters bacon at weekends and pork sausage most weeks along with other bits and pieces.

My parter turned to me and said "where do you get B12 from?"......"Fish, Eggs, Meat and Marmite".


I can't stand Marmite and my partner's not keen, but I know how good it is for B vitamins, especially for veggies who can't get them from meat. My 3 vegetarian children were given it on toast from 1 year old so that they developed a liking and reaped the benefits. I used to use it a fair amount in cooking, but at some point I forgot. I'm now going to be putting a spoonful in with my veggie mince and soups. It's a handy thing and for that reason I can't help but love it.

My partners symptoms are that he's always tired however much he sleeps, he has pain in both legs that is really bad at times, and pain in one arm. He's short-tempered and a bit grumpy (but the pain and tiredness also explain that). All of these symptoms are standard post-Meningitis, but they could also all be B12 deficiency.

He has 5 injections over the next 3 weeks. Worst case scenario is that the pain isn't helped by the B12 and we have to look again for a cause, but he should still feel a whole lot better. Fingers crossed....

16 comments:

  1. Adore marmite, nice thickly spread on toast - yum!! Hope the injections work and the pain starts to ease, must be hard. x

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  2. I love marmite, it is at its best on crumpets with a slice of cheese, but if could eat it by the spoonful. I hope the pain and tiredness eases for him, well actually I actually hope it goes all together! Good luck x x

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    1. Cheers hon - my kids love Marmite and cheese on toast, it's like my idea of hell :D

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  3. I have a b12 deficiency and the worst part about it for me is the exhaustion. It gets to the point that I can't stay awake at all. There is a family history for me, my daughters both have it but not my son. It appears to only hit the females in our family.

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    1. Tha'ts interesting - I've known 3 other people who had regular injections for B12 and they were all women. It does make sense to be more common in females. Can't be easy when you're shattered and still have to deal with the family though.. :o/

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  4. fingers crossed and who would have thought good old marmite might help, we are a family of lovers! and now love it even more...fingers crossed for you!

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  5. Hun, my mum's mum used to make gravy with a teaspoon of the stuff, my advice is avoid doing that, put me off gravy for years.

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    1. Hahaha :D
      I'll remember that! It works very well with veggie mince in a pie or shepherd's pie though :)

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  6. Glad you are getting some answers, even though nothing conclusive yet! I'm not a marmite fan but can just about stomach it in cooking. Good luck!

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  7. Marmite. Bleugh. But totally worth it for the vitamins! Hope he gets sorted soon. It must be so difficult for all of you. x

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  8. Hopefully that's great news! Love Marmite here as does Monkey. I really hope it does the trick, it would be such a relief wouldn't it.

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