Vit B12 deficiency

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I am currently 18 weeks and GP has diagnosed Vit B12 deficiancy (level was 117) she said since I neither a vegan or vegetarian we can assume I have the type where your body does not absorb it??

She said I would need injections but as pregnant wanted to double check.
She said she would write a letter to the haematologist to confirm course of action.

I am now panicking after googling it and seeing it greatly increases the chances of birth defects :(

Presumably could take ages for hospital to get back to her? She asked me to come back in 2/3 weeks to see how I feel? (I feel awful - breathless, extremely tired, lethargic etc).

Anyone have any experience of this?

Bump

Sorry I can't really help, but what is your diet like normally? Could you increase your dairy intake to get more B12? Meat and fish like cod and salmon too.

I'm b12 deficient but because I follow a vegetarian diet and I'm pretty restrictive in what I do eat.
I was diagnosed with iron and b12 anaemia around 18 months - 2 years ago.
I'm tired most of the day and have sores either side of my mouth and a really sore tongue (that stings like mad when I use toothpaste/mouthwash etc). I've had the b12 injections, I buy veggie friendly b12 supplements from holland and Barrett which are around £4 I think and I try to eat a decent amount of fortified cereal for breakfast each day.
If you can increase your b12 intake it should rise pretty quickly and the tiredness and lethargy should calm down a bit.
I can't comment on whether the injections are safe in pregnancy as mine had stopped just before I started ttc, but I can't see any obvious reason why they would be ruled out.
I'm the mean time you could try the h&b supplements? I think the non veggie version are even cheaper and each tablet claims to have 20,000% of your rda of b12 in it :).

I'm veggie and had very low B12 levels a few years ago so had to have daily injections in my upper arm muscles by a nurse at GP for a week. I felt radically better as a result and now just take B12 tablets from superdrug - so I can recommend the benefits of a boost through injections. Sounds like you have 'pernicious anaemia' where you just don't absorb it well so not sure what a long term solution would be - or if there is any risk in having the injections during pregnancy, sorry.

I have a pernicious anaemia and am on 3monthly injections which I am doing myself. Right after starting the injections I felt loads better and wasn't constantly tired anymore. Not sure about the injections and pregnancy though, sorry.

Thanks everyone...

The doctor did say I would need the injections for the rest of my life. Didn't mention tablets as an option?

Any idea how low 101 is? He said normal is 200-600 so 100 sounds low. I do feel awful :(

Have read lots of things via google about greatly increased risks to my baby :( what is done is done though I guess as least I'm on to it now...

It says on the NHS website that if its efficiently treated complications are very rare so you should be fine once your doctor found out how often you need the injections...

Hi I've developed b12 deficiency too I'm getting weekly b12 injections , the same happened in my last pregnancy and I was referred to haematology, the difference in how I feel once I get the injections is amazing .

I have pernicious anemia my levels never go above 80 my body just rejects it, I have weekly injections and top up with tablets daily. Most people just have an injection every 3 months.
I had them throughout my pregnancy and didn't get told it was a problem.

I have pernicious anaemia. It was diagnosed nearly 6 years ago but the 3 monthly injections keep my levels steady.

I had a baby 8 months ago. Had my injections as normal during pregnancy and all was fine.