Medical case narrative
A 61-year-old woman from Cape Verde — reversible, and then not simple
What happened
A 61-year-old woman, originally from Cape Verde, developed dementia-like decline and psychosis from pernicious anemia — the autoimmune condition that stops the stomach absorbing B12.
What it looked like
Cognitive collapse with psychiatric symptoms, in a woman whose blood could no longer get B12 from her food.
What the labs found
B12 deficiency due to pernicious anemia.
What changed
Her cognition reversed dramatically with B12 treatment — the part of this story often told as a clean miracle. The fuller record matters: six months after her antipsychotic (olanzapine) was stopped, her psychosis returned, and it settled again on a different antipsychotic (paliperidone). Both halves are the story: the vitamin was real and treating it transformed her cognition, and her psychiatric care still mattered afterward.
The test that told the story
Serum vitamin B12 (with pernicious anemia workup).
Sources: Published case report, covered by two collection territories independently.