B12 injections

[Lilxa89]

Hey all.has anyone else had the 6 b12 injections over 2 weeks through gp? How were you after having these done?

Fine, less tired. Been having them 3 monthly fir about 3 years following the loading dose.

I was fine, sore arm but after the inital loading doses had a lot more energy. However my surgery never mentioned that id need maintenance doses so I'm back to bring exhausted all the time again. Have a blood test next week so we'll see!

Why injections ? Unless you lack intrinsic factor.

Many neurologists "recommend" B12 - certainly for MS - as a prophylactic, as B12 is strongly connected to nerve function. However as it's not a NICE-approved treatment, few GPs will actually prescribe injections. And it's much harder to get the big dose orally.

From personal experience, a lot of consultants are quite happy to "recommend" treatments that GPs will equally happily refuse to prescribe.

They are intramuscular jabs. Best done into the abdomen. (Like the blood thinner when you are in hospital).

Push them to re give you loading doses then maintenance dose no matter what the blood tests say. Once you’ve had B12 deficiency diagnosed, it’s a lifelong condition and should not be retested. If your blood test results look better because of the injections you’ve had, they tell you you’re cured of that so it must be something else, when actually the B12 isn’t reaching the cells because you can’t absorb it from your diet.

So much bollocks in one post.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of causes of B12 deficiency that require injections - pernicious anemia is just one of them.

The injection into your abdomen is absolutely NOT an IM injection, and you should never use an IM needle there as it can go too deep. It’s a subcutaneous injection if you choose to do it there.

GP’s will give it as an IM injection, usually in the upper arm. It can also go into the thigh muscle or the glutes (never do your own into the glutes though as too many chances to get it wrong).

Neurologists SHOULD be recommending B12 injections for neurological symptoms. In fact, the BNF (which all doctors have a copy of) specifically says if there are neurological symptoms, it should be every other day B12 injections until no further signs of improvement, then once every 2 months (note not 3 months if you had neurological symptoms).

You are dangerously misinformed and spreading that further. B12 deficiency can kill people. It can also have them end up in a care home as unable to function. People push to get the injections and have to fight their doctors because so many are like you and think the injections aren’t necessary unless the IF test was positive. However that test gives a false negative around 40% of the time - so it shouldn’t be relied upon anyway.

Source for all of the above - I helped volunteer with the B12 Society and learned so much from them to help others.

Good job it'll disappear into the ether in 29 days then.

They weren't enough for me and if you don't methylate B12 like I don't they won't be enough for any of you.
B12 is water soluble so isn't going to stick around in your system.

I jab 50 ml B12 every morning into my belly. It's cheap as chips to buy and has saved my life.
If you look up the Pernicious Anaemia society on Healthunlocked, that's where I found what to do and where to buy it.
Your GP won't help you, they don't care.

I was asleep for 20 hrs a day. I had become so unwell mentally and physically. Took a long time to improve.

Thanks I will push for it. My diabetes nurse is really good, last time he said my results were borderline for injections, but as I was sleeping so much and getting pins and needles he sorted the injections for me. I'm not at the pins and needles stage yet, but do get tingly at times.

If you had pins and needles that’s a neurological symptom. That’s shockingly bad they stopped the injections.

The guidelines with neurological symptoms are 6 injections over 2 weeks (loading doses) then every other day until no further improvement in symptoms. After that, once every 2 months.

I had EOD injections for over 2 years thanks to a doctor who understood it all. I self injected though - I pointed out that it was cheaper for me to self inject EOD than it was to have one nurse appointment every 2-3 months!

As an fyi, neurological symptoms can become permanent after 6 months if untreated, so definitely push to get injections back before those symptoms come back!

This is interesting, thank you
I've had B12 injections every two weeks since the loading doses in 2017. Bloody love them, they make me feel so much better. If I miss one, the fatigue and brain fog are awful. I do not have PA; they were to combat depression fatigue, and I found they changed my life.

Now off to investigate the B12 society