Paying for b12 injections

[cheeseisthebest]

I am so tired I can't function, I've had everything checked I eat well, I'm not stressed, I get lots of sleep, don't drink but I'm exhausted GP said my b12 is low but not low enough for injections. How can I find someone to give me b12 injections that I pay for as I'm sure that's what I need.

@NannyGythaOgg can I ask if you told your GP practise you weren’t having them do them anymore? Did you just stop booking appointments and if so did they follow up?

I get mine done by the nurse at mine every 10 weeks but stocked up from the German site and needles etc during first lockdown when I thought my GP would stop doing them. When I’ve felt low I’ve done some myself midway between injections and now I’m happy doing it I can’t be faffed going in but I don’t want to tell them I’m shooting up at home and them thinking I’m weird. Not sure they’d ever chase it up if i stopped going but they might surprise me.

[quote AnneLovesGilbert]@NannyGythaOgg can I ask if you told your GP practise you weren’t having them do them anymore? Did you just stop booking appointments and if so did they follow up?

I get mine done by the nurse at mine every 10 weeks but stocked up from the German site and needles etc during first lockdown when I thought my GP would stop doing them. When I’ve felt low I’ve done some myself midway between injections and now I’m happy doing it I can’t be faffed going in but I don’t want to tell them I’m shooting up at home and them thinking I’m weird. Not sure they’d ever chase it up if i stopped going but they might surprise me.[/quote]
Yes. I have told them.

Initially because I have a good relationship with my GP and felt a combination of safe and nervousness telling her. She initially suggested that I returned to the surgery for my monthly jabs so that they stayed on the system. I pretty quickly stopped doing this. Why go to the faff of making and keeping an appointment when it was so easy to do at home. (However I am now late 60s and can see a time where I may regret this but Hey Ho)
I haven't seen my GP since before lockdown one and had my medication review (I am also hypothyroid) with a pharmacist last year. I found it productive and also told him. He did say that post Brexit there may be an issue getting B12 from Germany - that was his only concern.

I do think it depend on your GP though

sorry 3 monthly jabs not monthly

Thank you so much @NannyGythaOgg appreciate it.

Sorry for derail OP.

Thank you, I've done my own blood sugars which I was squeamish about but guess it's similar?

I do my own as well - order the b12 from amazon.de

OMG 👏🏻 To those self injecting. Its the most bloody painful jab i ever receive! Always hurts and i have so many different nurses giving it to me so it cannot be the nurses fault

My dad says his is totally painless, snd I cannot see how😂

Please make sure you take a folic acid supplement at the same time!!

I never mind the needle, it’s the solution itself that aches like a bastard.

I jabbed myself with blood thinners twice a day the whole of my pregnancy which stung and left horrendous bruises so the occasional jab in the thigh doesn’t seem that bad. I cocked it up once, made myself bleed a bit and got a small bruise but that’s the worst.

The only grim thing about injecting my thigh is the fibrous texture, you can feel it going in and sort of crunching down. I’d like to find a way to avoid that, don’t know if anyone has tips.

@AnneLovesGilbert its awful! It burns!

What does your GP say about the fact you take a supplement but the b12 levels are not improving at all (if that is the case).
This needs accounting for I'd have thought. The GP can run a blood test for intrinsic factor antibody protein, a protein made by the stomach lining and which is required to absorb b12, and could be why you aren't able to absorb it. I would make sure this has been checked alongside a full blood count of thyroid and folic acid.

I have NHS b12 shots every 3 months and I don't wish to put a downer on it but they don't make life changing differences to my energy levels. There is no instant infusion of energy for me at the time or the weeks after, but I do get terrible breakouts of spots every time I have the shot, which go completely by the time I'm ready for the next one. The main difference for me is that I'm not wildly craving food after I've had one, and in the weeks waiting for one I'm preoccupied with craving for b12 and iron rich foods.

I'm grateful to have the shot as clearly my body needs it to operate as it should and prevent damage but fatigue can be attributable to many things. The shot doesn't alter that for me. Hope you can find a solution OP.

Thank you, I had course of injections few years ago and made a huge difference to me!

I've just emailed the Dr with the above and asked about thyroid check. Thank you

@BattenbergdowntheHatches

It’s an intramuscular injection so it’s a fair but larger than a glucometer needle. It is very easy to do it in your own thigh though - mine are sufficiently flabby to be painless.

Do get the first one done by someone else in case you react badly.

Depending on the needle you are using, if your legs are flabby/big it is likely that you are injecting into fat rather than muscle. Not necessarily a big problem, maybe slower absorption or reduced absorption but there will be a difference.

@MrsDThomas

Again, possibly you are being injected into fat rather than muscle. Needle lengths for specific injections are based on men. Women, even slim women, have a higher fat percentage and needles designed for IM injections in men (particularly in the arm) are much more likely to go into fatty tissue in women rather than in men.

(It is one hypothesis being put forward for SOME of the side effects of flu and covid vaccines being more prevalent in women)

I knowingly inject into fat rather than muscle because I find it easier to inject into my abdomen and only use a small needle. It still works for me.

@dontgobaconmyhearti also get spots after y 2 monthly jab. I don’t get spots, but this will always give me a beauty!

Im going on Tuesday for my jab, and this time im well and truly ready for it. I notice im not sleeping well, and im tetchy, my tolerance towards people is limited.

Honestly, OP, in your shoes, I'd consult with a private GP and see about getting a private script.

Crazy question but how on earth do I find a private GP??

Google is your friend.
'private GP' + 'area'

GP should be finding out why your levels are not moving in right direction with oral tablets.

As mentioned it is to do with intrinsic factor (they don't know why the gene to produce this switches off though I did read there is a Viking gene responsible and that probably it interacts with environment/life so that is why its expressed or not).

I go 8 weekly to have B12 after the NICE guidelines changed from 3 monthly. I don't feel like I have a dip in the middle of 3 months now whereas it was noticable to friends and family before they'd often say is it time for your B12 soon?
I have CFS too but the B12 deficiency came 1st. It was a fight to get it recognised. Various GPs and consultants said - its diet, its depression etc until I insisted on bloods. Current GP told me my body uses up B12 supply much quicker than the norm.

Dr Myhill's website is good on all this sort of thing. She says often NHS patients are not clinically low but the level they have can affect their function... we are all different and obviously some bodies need more B12 than others. I think she may have B12 for sale on her website and is an advocate of self injection.

Interestingly my NHS nurse that usually does B12's said I could get DH to inject during Covid when docs were not open. I hung on until they were but she must have thought it was safe - she actually said look on youtube for guides :)

@MrsDThomas isn't it a pain. My skin is always lovely again just in time for me to go and get another jab which feels darkly comic. I also get inexplicably hot for about a week after having it.

I can certainly relate to feeling tetchy a couple of weeks before it, I also start to crave things like spinach and beef in a very distracting way, all of which disappears as soon as i've had it. All very odd but grateful to have it nonetheless.

Those of you who do get it through your GP what were your levels? Mine are 245.

Mine were 156.

Ive been on and off iron and vitamin tablets since i was 13. Tired, irritable, all the signs were there. I was 47 when they discovered i needed B12 desperately.

Really annoyed that I wasn’t checked before.