East Durham doctor who receives worldwide pleas for help writes book about pioneering work

A retired doctor who still receives worldwide calls about his pioneering battle against a deadly vitamin deficiency has written a new book about his work.

Dr Joseph Chandy Kayyalackakom treated more than 1,000 people suffering from Vitamin B12 deficiency while a GP in East Durham.

His solution – offering nutritional supplements rather than expensive drugs to tackle the symptoms – has helped people suffering with issues such as sight problems, infertility, pins and needles, tiredness and depression.

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One man who had been deaf since childhood even realised he could hear normally when he pulled his hearing aid out after initially thinking it was turned up too loud.

Dr Chandy, as he is more commonly known, formed the B12d charity to support his work and still attracts pleas for help from as far away as America, India and Australia. He has now published a book aimed at doctors and patients called Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Clinical Practice.

As well as examining how a lack of Vitamin B12 triggers many common illnesses and conditions, Dr Chandy also looks back at his decades of struggle to update medical practice nationwide.

Dr Chandy, 78, said: “Even to this day, my phone may ring in the middle of the night. I can feel their frustration. They're desperate to find an end to their suffering and this offers a solution.

“Every call or email is another person who needs help. I think of them as my special family and this family, sadly, is growing at an alarming rate.”