Dee is a 29 year-old successful senior software consultant. His personal life is also doing very well with a wife and little children. Several weeks ago, the left side of his body started going out of control: his left arm and leg have suddenly been so weak that he is not able to move them. He cannot walk independently. He cannot type. He cannot raise his left arm.
Worst of all (from my perspective), he cannot see clearly in his left visual field. He is fully aware of his "neglect" symptom. Well, actually a person with neglect usually is not aware of his/her neglect symptom.
For the first sight, Dee sees an object or a word incompletely. Being aware of his neglect, he will move his head to the left to see the entire object or word. It does not matter how big the object or word is. For example, a word as short as "apple" is seen by him firstly as "pple". His strategy of consciously scanning from left to right helps him to do things, but this consciousness is totally abnormal. Normally we see a thing with little effort before we recognize it. Normally we don't need a strategy of scanning to read "apple".
He behaves like a person with right hemisphere injury.
He told us about what his symptoms have been in a totally intelligent articulate good-mannered way. His understanding on his condition is as if he read chapters of medical textbooks (I bet he must have googled everything.)
After staying in three different hospitals and seeing tens of neurologists and being examined on hundreds of different tests, he is frustrated about the mysterious cause of his condition, which results in today's interesting case.
If he was a stroke patient or had a tumor or showed any abnormalities in his brain imaging results, this case would not be as difficult or interesting as it is presented in front of our eyes.
Negative. Nothing. Nothing decisive was found in his brain or blood.
We, including Dr. Anna, Kim, a resident, two medical students, and me, were looking at him with our full attention, trying very hard to extract anything that other previous doctors did not see.
Dee was actually very happy that he got such attention because he wants to get better asap and he wants to know what's wrong with his body.
An hour later, we made a conclusion based on our best guess: Vitamin B12 Deficiency.
There was almost no B12 in his system.
He was not very convinced with the conclusion. Because he is a meat eater. Because he has been taking B12 shots every day since a blood test revealed his lack of B12.
As an Indian, he might be a vegetarian. Being a vegetarian means the probability of lacking B12 is higher than being a meat eater. But he is a meat eater, meaning his diet is rich with B12.
So the problem is in his stomach, not in his brain. Somehow he simply is not able to absorb B12.
B12 plays an important role in formation of red blood cells and is an essential component in the creation and maintenance of the myelin sheath that lines nerve cells. Large amounts of B12 are stored in the body of a non-vegetarian, so this condition may not become apparent until as much as four or five years after B12 absorption stops or slows down (for example, when the person decides to become a vegetarian or a vegan). B12 Deficiency can cause loss of muscle control and loss of sensation in the legs, hands, and feet, and other symptoms if the the affected part is somewhere in the nervous system. In this case, Dee cannot perceive the visual world normally even though his eyes are good.
Since Dee started taking B12 shots, his left arm and leg are gradually coming back to his voluntary control. We hope to find other B12 sources for him, or better, to find the cause of his inability of absorbing B12.
While looking for more information on B12 Deficiency, a thought comes to me.
Is being a true vegetarian (no fish or egg) or a vegan against our nature?
When pursuing nature becomes unnatural, one should stop and think about what is human nature.
I love the earth. I like to share the planet with other species. I do not like to kill. But I do not want to be a vegetarian for diet preferences: I like sushi, red meat, seafood, egg tarts, and organs. I do not want to be a vegan for diet preferences too: I like latte, taro, and fresh whipped cream on a warm pumpkin pie.
Now knowing that animal products are the source of B12, eating eggs, drinking milk, and swallowing sushi probably are good not only for my taste sensation but also for my health.
Humans eat everything because we are poor at self-generating every nutrient we need in order to have a healthy life.
Dee is unfortunate that he is lack of B12 for some unknown reason that is not related to his diet habit. But I am thinking about vegans who have normal functions of absorbing B12. Do they accept taking vitamin pills as a natural thing to do? Do they accept a B12 shot as organic? Do they realize that they are probably insisting in living a life against their true nature? Are they some kind of radicals?
Naturally, we humans are able to digest animal and vegetable products. This may naturally mean that we need both.
Now I can accept some vegetarians who actually eat fish and/or eggs. Good for them.
But they should not call themselves vegetarians. Fishitarian or eggitarians?
Please label yourself correctly.
Hi, I am an everything-eater, naturally.
