• Colonoscopy
• Submitted on 10/11/2024

19yo Male with B12 Deficiency, Thin Stools - Seek Second GI Opinion?

Hello, I am a 19yo male. Months ago, I had some neurological symptoms and went to hospital. There, a blood test showed that I had really low B12 vitamin (under 90 pg/mL). I had some shots to increase B12 levels and hospital advised me to go to GI and have gastroscopy and colonoscopy to find the cause of the deficiency, because it was not normal at that age to have that low b12 levels. So, the days I was taking the B12 shots and planning to go to a GI, I had some bowel symptoms, including changes in stool size (small-thin and rounded / however not hard to pass), and rarely a little blood on them. When I went to the GI, I told him the whole story and told me that I had to do some other blood tests first to see if there is any gastric inflammation and then we would see if endoscopy is needed. After doing several blood tests (ECR, CRP, etc..) and faecal calprotectin test, GI told me that results were normal and did not show any inflammation in stomach or colon, so no endoscopy was needed. He told me that these symptoms were from functional gastrointestinal disorders and hemmorhoids. All of these happened like 6 months before. Now, I still have small-thin and rounded stools (rarely i pass normal stools but most of times they are like that) - blood is very rare and in small amount. Generally, my diet is normal (includes fiber), i drink a lot of water, no anxiety, not anaemic, normal weight and I exercise. So, these changes in bowel habits that happened months ago (without having any lifestyle change) + little blood rarely + the B12 deficiency I had, make me think I should visit another GI and push for a colonoscopy. Thanks for reading till the end, what do you suggest me to do? Go to another GI and even push for endoscopy? Finally, could the cause of hard pebble stool be somehow (?) the elevation of B12 so my system need some time to go back to normal again? Because B12 deficiency was slowly developing for years.