Abstract

MENDOZA BERMUDEZ, Constanza  and  DE LA ESPRIELLA PERDOMO, Mauricio. Neuropsychiatric Manifestations Related to Vitamin B12 Deficiency. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2008, vol.37, n.1, pp.128-138. ISSN 0034-7450.

Objective: To review and illustrate the psychiatric findings related to vitamin B12 deficiency. Methods: Case report. Results: This is a case of a patient who had the first episode of psychosis when she was 40 years old. The patient was hospitalized in the Mental Health Hospital Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, in Pasto, Nariño, in 2005. The patient had also depression that got worse, and recently started alteration of the cognitive functions. She also had other neurological problems like hypoesthesia in the distal third of the four extremities and headache. A macrocitic anemia was found in the lab tests. For this reason, the levels of vitamin B12 and folic acid were analyzed, and subnormal levels of the first were discovered. During the hospitalization, the patient received symptomatic treatment with psychiatric medications, and vitamin B12 reposition was initiated. She got better with the treatment. During two years of ambulatory follow up, the patient remains without symptoms in relation to her mental health. She assists to the hematology department. This specialty has found her stable and prescribed her vitamin B12 supplement for indefinite time. Conclusions: The case shows us the diversity of the neuropsychiatric symptoms that patients with vitamin B12 deficiency can have and how the symptoms can reverse when the diagnostic and the treatment are made correctly and soon.

Keywords : Vitamin B12 deficiency; depression; psychotic disorders; delirium; dementia.

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