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Don,
 
I found your post very interesting, because a lot of the symptoms you listed
have been experienced by my father.
 
I remember that his doctor did some checking of his reflexes and
responsiveness of his legs on her first screen, and she mentioned this was
helpful in identifying B12 deficiencies, if I remember right.  At that
point, we already knew his B12 levels were almost nil.  (They call it
pernicious anemia, which I recently found out is an autoimmune illness)  He
had very little responsiveness in his legs, and couldn't tell when she put a
tuning fork on his ankle.  I've always wondered if this unresponsiveness of
his legs was why he ended up wrecking his car and having the Emergency Room
Doctor discover the B12 deficiency.
 
He also has had the incontinence problems and the dry skin, and doesn't seem
to notice when he gets his B12 shots that he has been stuck.  His toenails
and fingernails are ridged and thick.
 
He had a minor TIA about a year ago, which only seemed to have effected his
right hand, but he still complains of it tingling and hurting for a few
hours every morning.
 
The celiac screen looks like he's negative for CD, but he seems to have a
gluten intolerance, as dietary elimination has solved incontinence problems
and has cleared his mind enough to make daily life much easier.  He has
dementia, maybe alzheimers.
 
His first cousin told me that all of the people on his mother's side of the
family had lower body weakness as they got older.  My daughter's most
profound developmental delays involved lower body weakness.
 
Thanks for the info, Don.
 
Susan Owens