Hi  – what type of encephalopathy was he diagnosed with? There are many different types, and the cause of each can differ greatly, therefore the course of action will differ as well.

Hi ,

The term encephalopathy is usually used as a ‘container’ term. It just means a disease of the brain, usually a degenerative condition that is chronic.

A B12 deficiency after a certain age is more common because low stomach acid is more common. If a B12 deficiency has been established it might be wise to check out other markers as well since stomach acid is also needed for iron absorption & protein digestion.

Personally, I would also like to know if the doctors ruled out other root causes for encephalopathy. Did they for example:
• checked kidney & liver function – which can cause brain problems. 
• How is his blood pressure? 
• Did they check his vitamin B1 (Thiamin) status? 
• Were blood sugars checked? Encephalopathy can be caused by diabetes for example.
• Are his thyroid hormones in balance? 
• Are there traces of infections?

There are many more possibilities here, but these can be evaluated by blood work.

Personally I would be curious to see his labs!

 did you attach the reports?

 

As Daniel mentioned above, there can be many causes for encephalopathy and unfortunately, other than kidney function, they did not test:

-blood sugar regulation
-liver function
-thyroid function 
-H Pylori

…which would be nice to see given that these can be possible root causes.

What did strike me is his low levels of B12 and iron which points to low stomach acid. Is he vegan? Does he consume animal proteins? Was H Pylori ruled out?

And interestingly, despite his low levels of iron as seen by his red blood cell markers and %saturation, his ferritin is suboptimally high, which would make you think that his storage of iron is sufficient. But this usually happens when there’s an infection of some sort.

In his white blood cell count, there are 2 changes; 1 shows a possible low-grade simmering infection. Could be dysbiosis, an overgrowth, parasites, etc. The other test shows higher monocytes, which usually increases after the body was fighting something. Was he sick at any point during these 2 tests?

 ok, that makes more sense now. Once he’s better and had time to recover, see if you can request those additional tests I mentioned above.

You can find the full panels in these videos below:
-blood sugar regulation
-liver function (ALT, AST, Alk Phos, GGT, Total & direct bilirubin, Albumin, Protein)
-thyroid function
-H Pylori (breath to start with. I prefer the functional PCR stool test by Diagnostic Solutions)

 given what seems to be poor absorption, a sublingual liquid form of B12 or lozenge might be better forms for him. Avoid the cyanocobalamin form. Aim for one that is either methyl-, adenosyl-, or hydroxycobalamin.